Grow Oklahoma: Helping Oklahomans
and Oklahoma Businesses Succeed

The Grow Oklahoma initiative and OKCareerPlanner.com website are among the first manifestations of a remarkable partnership among business, education, and government that started more than five years ago. That's when Governor Brad Henry called on all of the key stakeholders in Oklahoma's economic vitality to come together to ensure a future that would enable our businesses to grow and succeed and provide great opportunities for Oklahoma young people to also grow and succeed. The groups that came together became known as the Governor's Council for Workforce and Economic Development.

For three years, the group conducted surveys with major industry employers about current and future workforce challenges and needs; listened to practitioners to hear about the glories and difficulties of keeping up with the fast-changing educational environment; and spent quality time with students to understand what motivates them to take different career paths or to decide whether to stay in Oklahoma. Out of that research came an action plan called Grow Oklahoma.

Vision: Oklahoma has a competitive advantage through integrated workforce and economic development objectives.

Mission: Oklahoma advances a demand-driven workforce and economic development system.

Result: Oklahoma achieves wealth creation for businesses and individuals, and enhances quality of life in communities throughout the state.

Goal: Increase the education/skills attainment levels of all Oklahomans and increase the skilled labor pool to meet the demands of the key industries within the regions of the state.

The Core Principles

1. Focus on key industries Develop solutions consistenty with the needs of statewide and/or regional needs - initially, aerospace, advanced manufacturing, and health care.

2. Everyone needs to grow Focus on ensuring all Oklahomans progress to the next level of skills periodically, from low-skill workers obtaining basic skills to university graduates obtaining advanced credentials to mature workers ready to enhance their skills for new career paths and opportunities.

3. Removing barriers Enable workers to take advantage of continuous learning by removing barriers such as educational cost, child care, and transportation. Improve employer awareness that time off for training and postsecondary education can positively affect the bottom line.

4. State agencies will align All relevant state agencies involved in economic development, workforce development, education and human services will prioritize actions and allocate resources in alignment with the goals of Grow Oklahoma.

5. Growing will occur within regions Encourage and support development of agile and appropriate regional partnerships and solutions.

6. Be accountable for results Strategies cannot be mere rhetoric. Develop metrics for progress and use them to drive actions.