Dream It. Do It. Campaign
This is a time of great challenge for U.S. manufacturers as they adapt to today’s global economy. While the media has focused on the flight of low-level manufacturing jobs to such places as China and India, U.S. manufacturers from Flint to Florida say they are experiencing a severe worker and skills shortage. The trend is being exacerbated by the retirement of baby boomers. At the same time, our education system is not providing the training and skills required by today’s advanced manufacturing.
In response to this looming crisis, the National Association of Manufacturers and The Manufacturing Institute have developed the Dream It. Do It. Careers Campaign. We are reaching out to young adults, parents, educators, civic leaders, and policy-makers to show them the exciting future of manufacturing and the variety of careers it offers.
Through Dream It. Do It., we will …
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Form strong and committed coalitions consisting of local civic, political, education and business entities; |
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Launch a focused campaign aimed at 18- to 26-year-olds, their parents, and educators; |
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Offer a world-class Web site that will allow young adults to match their passion with the array of highly paid manufacturing jobs available; and |
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Form local partnerships with community colleges, technical schools and universities to respond to those who are newly interested in preparing for careers in manufacturing. |
The heart of this plan is to engage communities to band together to foster economic development and robust growth by preparing our young adults to address the challenges of today’s high-tech manufacturing.
Dream It. Do It. is being piloted in the Kansas City region. It is spearheaded by the Alliance for Innovation in Manufacturing-KC (AIM-KC) – a newly formed pro-manufacturing alliance of business leaders, educators, economic developers, and civic organizations. From the KC experience, a template and toolkit is being developed in order to roll out the initiative to the entire nation – community by community. Houston has been identified as a second site, and other areas are under consideration.
It is our hope that as a result of the Dream It. Do It. Careers Campaign, manufacturing will be a preferred career choice by 2010. We can take steps toward accomplishing this objective by tapping into the passions and goals of young people, and then connecting them to resources and information about ways they can pursue their dreams through the outstanding career opportunities available in today’s manufacturing.
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