We have a wrap on another busy and successful Manufacturing Month!
 
We had 29 organizations and 11 sponsors participate in Central Minnesota’s virtual magazine, which highlights in-person and virtual tours offered during the month of October and throughout the year. All funds raised by the magazine are used to market manufacturing month and career opportunities in manufacturing through geo-targeted advertising, billboards, radio ads, social media marketing, as well as strengthening career pathway opportunities for youth interested in manufacturing. The magazine also helped fund five bussing grants to area schools who attended tours.
 
The 2023 Career and Technical Education (CTE) Jamboree is scheduled for November 16 at 7:15 am at St. Cloud Technical & Community College (SCTCC). The CTE Jamboree is an effort to bridge the gap between education and the manufacturing industry as we build stronger career pathways by developing student training and apprenticeship opportunities through pathways for high school students. We invite school board members, superintendents, principals, counselors, CTE teachers, manufacturers, and community leaders to hear about the thriving CTE initiatives in our state. The format will allow local manufacturers and educators to interact and vision programs to expand on the CTE focus that is taking place in education right now.

The program lineup includes:
7:15 am      Registration
7:30 am      Breakfast and networking
8:00 am      CMMA Welcome and K12 Navigator Overview
8:10 am      SCTCC Welcome and importance of VEX Robotics (Lori Kloos, SCTCC President and Dean of Skilled Trades & Industry, and Aaron Barker, SCTCC Instructor)
8:30 am      Labor market information and the importance of CTE (Luke Greiner, DEED Labor Market Analyst)
8:50 am      CTE featured school: Sauk Rapids-Rice High School (Sandy Logrono, Principal, and Jake Masters, Industrial Technical Education Teacher)
9:15 am      Minnesota CTE grant opportunities (Alison Orgaard, CTE Manager)
9:30 am      Wrap up and breakout into tour groups
9:45 am      Tour newly-expanded SCTCC Advanced Manufacturing Center (led by Steve Nusbaum, SCTCC Area Manufacturing Project Manager)

Register now to attend.
 
We also had several fun events throughout the region, including Chisago County who did a Career Exploration Day for all the schools in their county. High school students visited several manufacturers, as well as a hands-on career fair. Ridgewater College in Willmar and Hutchinson offered tours of their colleges to attract student interest. Kandiyohi County and the City of Willmar offered a manufacturing focused virtual career fair. Many chambers, communities and businesses also offered special tours, luncheons, and activities to their employees, their families, and to the public during Manufacturing Month. DCI, Inc. in St. Cloud also hosted the CMMA membership meeting in October, which had over 50 people in attendance.    
 
We hope Manufacturing Month assists with educating the public about the successful career opportunities available in manufacturing.
 
Governor Tim Walz proclaimed October as Manufacturing Month because manufacturing is the backbone of Minnesota’s economy:

• 11% of Minnesota’s workforce is in manufacturing (320,000 employees)
• Average annual wages for workers in manufacturing are $88,784
• Total output of Minnesota manufacturers tops $53 billion
• There are 10,100+ job openings in Minnesota’s manufacturing industry