Communities That Work Regional Partnership Application Template
Instructions: Applicants to the Communities That Work Partnership initiative can use this template to create their narrative application for their regional partnerships. The application must be submitted by June 5, 2015. Send your application as an attachment to an email to The Aspen Institute to . By the same due date, all applicants are also required to complete and submit a brief online questionnaire, which can be found here.
Prior to submitting your narrative application, we recommend that you delete all of the instructions and guidelines that are written in red font, which have been included in the template as a convenience to applicants.
The lead organization, together with other collaboration leaders, should fully address all 4 sections of a narrative proposal as described below in the application instructions: About Our Region, About Our Partnership, About Our Plan of Work and Record of Success, and About the Lead Organization and the Leadership Team. Use the template below, and submit the narrative to The Aspen Institute via email attachment either as a PDF or Word document. The overall length of the narrative application should be no more than 10 pages (not including personal leadership statements from each registered participant).
So that the reviewers can track it easily, try to use sub-headings that are generally consistent with the lettered items under each major category.
This application format asks for a lot of information; both clarity and brevity of presentation will be essential. Responses to many of the questions could come as short bulleted points in lieu of narrative. Feel free to use tables and charts if they seem helpful (within the page limitations). Don’t offer appendices. You may provide URL links to documents that expand upon particular points, but don’t use them to substitute for answers to the questions posed here.
Communities That Work Regional Partnership Application
Regional Partnership Profile and Contact Information
Name of Your Community (City or Region Name, State):
Name of Lead Organization:
Name of Regional Team Coordinator from Lead Organization: (must also be a registered regional team member)
Title of Regional Team Coordinator:
Email Address for Regional Team Coordinator:
Phone Number(s) for Regional Team Coordinator:
Please complete the information in the table below for the 2-3 additional registered regional team members.
Name / Title / OrganizationAbout Our Region – The Regional Economy, Labor Market, and Institutional Landscape (20 points)
In no more than 2-3 pages, tell us about your region – your economy, your workforce and the institutions that drive change. We are not looking for extensive details and we don’t expect new research, although we do expect applicants to cite meaningful summary data. We are looking for summary demonstration of how members of your partnership understand the fundamental dynamics at work in your region and how that understanding provides context and sets direction for your talent development work. Try to cover all of the following elements more or less in order:
A. Describe the region served by the partnership – geography, demography, governance, regional coherence and identity.
B. Summarize the structure, recent performance, and projected growth of the regional economy. Which sectors/clusters are growing and which are in decline? How do current levels or regional trends in per capita income, average wages by sector, and income inequality compare with the nation as a whole?
C. Describe the labor force in the region in terms of its age composition, educational attainment, and important trends of change.
D. Characterize the current alignment between labor demand and supply in the region. What are the principal strengths and vulnerabilities?
E. Outline the major features of the institutional landscape for skill development and education in the region. Where do you see the greatest need for improvement, for reform?
F. Specifically in terms of better understanding the regional economy and regional talent development needs, what questions would your partnership most like to explore thorough participation in the Partnership. And, what particular strengths or competencies would your partnership be able to offer others in the Partnership?
About Our Partnership (30 points)
In no more than 2-3 pages, tell us about the structure of your regional partnership – its mission, goals, structure, and leadership. Try to summarize each of the following elements more or less in order:
A. What business sectors or economic clusters is the partnership focused on, or, if the work is not sector or cluster focused, what is the broader issue the partnership will address, and does it effect multiple or all business sectors?
B. What organizations, business sectors, individuals are part of your partnership; what are their specific roles in the region; and what is the nature of their specific involvement in the partnership? At what level of authority are these organizations represented by your team’s registered participants? (A table format might be especially helpful in summarizing and clarifying this participation.)
C. Who provides the “voice of business” in this partnership?
D. What is the history of this collaboration? When was it organized and by whom? Is the partnership expanding or consolidating and why?
E. If the partnership has a mission statement, what is it? If it has measurable goals what are they?
F. Summarize the principal strengths of this partnership? Identify the areas where the partnership most needs to improve or to build capacity.
G. Specifically in terms of organization and partnership structure, what questions would your partnership most like to explore through participation in the Partnership and what particular strengths or competencies would your partnership be able to offer others in the Partnership?
About Our Plan Of Work And Record Of Success (30 points)
Here we want to learn more about what you will be working on in the period of your participation with the CTW Partnership. As above, we don’t need too much detail, but we’d like 2-3 pages that go beyond a statement of mission or an expression of general intent. A strong response would cover the following elements, more or less in order:
A. What are the specific goals or objectives the partnership would most like to accomplish? What indicators does your partnership propose to measure by summer of 2016 that could provide initial indicators of progress towards your goals? How are these goals and progress indicators rooted in your analysis of the region, the economy, and talent development needs?
B. Will the partnership be seeking to influence the supply of talent in the region? If so, summarize the principal strategies the partnership sees as most likely to improve talent supply and better align with the needs of business partners.
C. Will the partnership seek to accelerate regional business growth in some way, such as targeting new sectors or industries or engaging industry partners in new ways? If so, summarize the business growth strategy and how talent development supports it.
D. Will the partnership be seeking to influence job quality, hiring or human resource development practices of employers and, in summary, how?
E. Will it be seeking to benefit in some way a vulnerable low-income population segment or give access to a new set of workers that might not otherwise have a realistic opportunity to succeed without changes in the regional system?
F. Outline the partnership’s track record of success that strengthens the likelihood it will be successful in this plan of work. What are current conditions that support success? Identify the key threats to continued success.
G. If the partnership is newly organized, describe those factors that suggest early traction and momentum. Identify the key threats to early success.
H. What data and other information sources are available as performance and outcome metrics and how will the partnership use them to inform its work and track progress.
I. Specifically in terms of the work plan for the next 1-2 years, what questions would your partnership most like to explore through participation in the Partnership and what particular strengths or competencies would your partnership be able to offer others in the CTW Partnership?
About the Lead Organization and the Leadership Team (20 points)
Here we need information about lead organization and the 3-4 member team of registered participants that will represent the partnership in the CTW Partnership. Remember, each team must have at least one representative from an employer or employer association/group. We are expecting a team best positioned to strengthen the partnership and individually committed to learning how to do that.
A. Briefly describe the lead organization and its team leader who will be responsible for serving as primary point of contact with the designated liaison/coach from the CTW Partnership’s core management team, coordinating communication among team members, arranging for data collection, and planning the site visits that are part of the technical assistance and documentation process. How did the partnership assign this function on behalf of the group, and why?
B. Identify the 3-4 registered team members of the partnership’s leadership team who will participate in all the activities associated the CTW Partnership and who will serve as key champions within the partnership throughout this initiative. How were they chosen?
C. Using the template on the following page, please provide a 1-2 page statement from each registered team member that includes contact information, a brief description of how their respective leadership roles contribute to/could contribute to systems change in the region, how they expect to benefit personally from participation in the CTW Partnership and what they anticipate will be challenging for them, and a statement of their commitment of time. You can copy the personal statement template on the following page to collect statements from each of the registered regional team members. (Note: These statements from individual team members do not count towards the suggested 10-page limit to the partnership application.)
Personal Statement from Communities That Work Registered Team Members
Name of Your Community (City or Region Name, State):
Your Name:
Your Title and Organization:
Email Address:
Phone Number:
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Please provide a brief 1-2 page description of how your leadership role contributes to or could contribute to systems change in your region, how you expect to benefit personally from participation in the CTW Partnership and what you anticipate will be challenging for you. Also provide a statement of your commitment of time; in particular a confirmation of your availability to attend the September 14-16, 2015 opening workshop, as well as all other CTW Partnership events as described on the initiative’s website.