Workforce development has become a huge issue for St. Joseph and our overall national economy. To put it simply, there are simply not enough young people available to fill the jobs being vacated by the “baby boomer” generation that is now retiring. Over 50 percent of the jobs today do not require a college degree, but rather some level of skilled training between the high school and college level. It is estimated that during the next 10-year period, the manufacturing sector alone will have over 2 million job openings that it will not be able to fill (source: National Association of Manufacturers). Thus it becomes imperative that St. Joseph focus on making sure our workforce has the skills necessary to be successful in the job market.
That starts with supporting our local schools to ensure that our teachers are paid at competitive levels and to ensure that our facilities promote a good learning environment. This certainly includes supporting our schools financially. One can quickly see that we are falling behind if you have ever driven to many of the surrounding school districts for an extracurricular event.
Here at Gray, for the last three years we have rolled up our sleeves and worked with the education and business community to look for ways to enhance our workforce by providing our young people with the necessary skills to successfully enter the work environment. This starts with our St. Joseph School District and making sure it has the financial support to keep it successful. It is so important that our community support our schools by making sure they provide our most important resource, our kids, the education they need and deserve. This is the foundation to a healthy St. Joseph community and business environment. Our businesses and community simply cannot survive without investing in our students, teachers and facilities.
Please help move our community forward by voting “YES” for Proposition 1 and our schools.
Stet Schanze
President, Gray Manufacturing
