Skip to main content

Interest Groups

A vital feature of WORKFORCE 2030: THE ALASKA PLAN is the participation of Interest Groups representing Alaska’s industry, education, and economic sectors. Workforce 2030 is a statewide integrated plan with cross-industry applications. It is intended to take a holistic approach to Alaska’s most significant workforce issues, including labor shortages and skills gaps. Interest Groups are described below. Click a name to open.

To join an Interest Group, use this link to contact: Marcia Olson

Industry

Alaska's economy has many industry sectors. Some are large and employ tens of thousands of people. Some are smaller. Click on + to see a list of Alaska's major industries.
 

Alaska Industries and jobs outlook


Whatever your industry, you are invited and encouraged to participate in this Interest Group to share your experience and opinions as the Workforce 2030 Plan develops. To join this group, contact: Marcia Olson. You can also use this link to leave a brief message with your insights or questions.

 

Education

Education is the starting point for workforce development. It is one of Alaska’s biggest industries and employs thousands of workers. Education employers are struggling to attract, develop, and retain teachers, counselors, and support staff. Whatever your position within education, you are encouraged and invited to participate in this Interest Group and share your experience and opinions as the Workforce 2030 Plan develops. To join this Interest Group, contact: Marcia Olson You can also use this link to leave a brief message with your insights or questions.

Training, Internships, Apprenticeships

Alaska has many private sector training providers that provide technical skills instruction for a variety of industries and government.  Each year they train thousands of students, job seekers, apprentices, dislocated workers and more. These organizations are also employers, and Alaska has a critical shortage of qualified training instructors. Whatever your position in a training organization, you are encouraged and invited to participate in this interest group and share your experience and opinions as the Workforce 2030 Plan develops. Join this Interest Group to contribute your ideas and experiences. To join, contact: Marcia Olson You can also use this link to leave a brief message with your insights or questions.

Economic Development

There are 46 economic development organizations in Alaska, employing 1,772 people. Economic development organizations include eight Alaska Native Nonprofits, nine Alaska Regional Development Organizations (ARDORS), the Alaska Industrial Development and Export Authority (AIDEA), the Alaska Development Corporation (ADC), and many others. If you belong to an economic development group, you can join this Interest Group to make sure your organization's viewpoint is represented in this statewide workforce development plan. To join, contact: Marcia Olson You can also use this link to leave a brief message with your insights or questions.

Organized Labor

About 16% of Alaska’s workforce belong to labor unions. Unions strive for higher wages, better hours, and safer working conditions, but they also are concerned with improving the overall economy to ensure prosperity for employers. Unions and union employers support many joint training programs that provide skilling, reskilling, upskilling, and next-skilling for the unionized workforce. Join this Interest Group to contribute your experience and suggestions to the Workforce 2030 Plan. To join, contact: Marcia Olson You can also use this link to leave a brief message with your insights or questions.

Community Based Organizations

CBOs are trusted entities that know their clients and their communities, want to be engaged, and serve as a trusted source to distribute timely and accurate information. As the Workforce 2030 Plan unfolds, it is critical to have advice and perspectives from CBOs. Join this Interest Group to contribute your experience and suggestions. To join, contact: Marcia Olson You can also use this link to leave a brief message with your insights or questions.

Government

This Interest Group is for employees/representatives of all State, federal, local, and tribal government agencies. Combined, governments are the largest employers in the state. A central purpose of Workforce 2030 is to increase communication and collaboration among government agencies, employers, nonprofits, and education and training entities. Join this Interest Group to contribute your experience and suggestions. To join, contact: Marcia Olson You can also use this link to leave a brief message with your insights or questions.


Use the contact form below to contact Marcia Olson
 

 

 


COMMENTS
We encourage you to share your comments about this content. If you are not a registered user, your comment will not post until approved. You may register as a user if you want your comment posted sooner. When posting, if you do not want your name to appear, please type 'Anon' or your favorite handle in the name field.

Page Comments

Anonymous (not verified) Apr 03, 2024

Over the years secondary and career and technical education have always been side by side though some school districts do not have the resources to offer a broad variety of CTE programs effectively. Traditional "shop classes", now CTE courses, have always needed industry engagement at the front end - course development & instruction - and after training employment. It is difficult to sustain this engagement due to many reasons - but the basics of what is needed through engagement are well known. At any time, the lack of teachers, instructors or resources can disrupt or end a pathway from school to postsecondary learning and industry employment.  Federal Perkins funds, on their own, can't possibly do enough for a state secondary CTE system. What are your thoughts and ideas about ways to sustain and grow CTE capacity to keep programs alive and achieve a more robust CTE system?

Anonymous (not verified) Apr 04, 2024

Alaskas unions have contributed to workforce and economic development for decades.  They have worked with industry employers,, schools and communities to make Alaska a great place to work and live.  How can public and private sector unions help build our workforce now?

Katrina Erick May 07, 2024

Good afternoon,

My role at the Doyon Foundation is Outreach and Program Development with an emphasis on Workforce Development.

I'd love to connect to this interest group. 

Thank you,

Katrina Erick
Outreach & Development Coordinator 

907.459.2057 
1.888.478.4755 

erickk@doyon.com

615 Bidwill Avenue • Suite 101
Fairbanks • Alaska 99701 

doyonfoundation.com

Add new comment

Restricted HTML

  • Allowed HTML tags: <br> <p> <h2 id> <h3 id> <h4 id> <h5 id> <h6 id> <cite> <dl> <dt> <dd> <a hreflang href> <blockquote cite> <ul type> <ol type start> <strong> <em> <code> <li>
  • Lines and paragraphs break automatically.
  • Web page addresses and email addresses turn into links automatically.

Privacy Notification

Review Privacy Policy.

Your choices our responsibilities.