Hello CMMA members and friends, I hope this message finds you healthy, busy, warm and safe in this season of temperature shifts and changing times. Our organization continues to evolve, engage, create, achieve, grow and succeed, something that I’m proud to report to you, something to be proud of as members, partners and associates. 
 
Update from my desk and with great optimism, I say that at CMMA it’s COVID: Continuing Onward with Vision, Industriousness and Determination, read on and witness example CMMA!
 
Have you heard? The CMMA website, our dynamic portal to connectivity and opportunity, has been improved and now offers even more value, tools and action steps for all! Virtual webinars and member meetings are all there and full of current information and successful business strategies. It’s your doorway to central Minnesota’s manufacturing community collective knowledge and insight. Use it, learn from it and develop your skills to enhance your company through your important work there. 
 
Another sign of success… our January 28 membership meeting with King Banaian and Luke Greiner speaking on what this recession means for manufacturers was a rich experience and was also our most well-attended virtual session to date. We’re doing it right folks and there’s a place for you! We thank our all presenters and we thank our attendees as together we, pixel by pixel, gather, laugh and learn in our brave new world.  

Make plans to attend for our upcoming meeting on February 25 at 8:30 am featuring a panel of experts on exporting techniques: Are you open for business with the world? It will be an interesting and fruitful discussion. Register here.      
 
Whereas CMMA is ever vigilant to our cornerstone goals of educating our members, developing our workforce and legislative advocacy, I’m particularly excited to tell you more about, and kindly request your active participation in, and strong support of, our K12 Navigator initiative. With significant support from our longtime friends and partners at the Initiative Foundation, CMMA is now deploying this FREE tool to connect education and Central Minnesota manufacturers for career exploration. 
 
In service to teachers, counselors, career development coordinators, career coaches, parents, the K12 Navigator aggregates work-based learning resources that you can integrate into classrooms and/or workforce development programs. 
 
And for our manufacturers, the K12 Navigator can help you reach your long-term goals, including developing your future talent pipeline, reducing your hiring and training costs, limiting turnover and engaging more employees. Businesses now can measure impact, make meaningful investments in your local community, and provide support to local schools and education initiatives. Act now, join the team and consider your options: Classroom speaker, company tour, job shadowing, youth apprenticeship, student mentoring, donate materials, work-based training and student technical project support, where’s your fit?  
 
So now, friends of CMMA one and all, let’s populate our K12 Navigator, let’s propagate its use and let’s realize the rewards that this well-laid plan can deliver!    
 
Our Youth Apprenticeship Toolkit is available now at the CMMA website and ready for you to use to create your own structured and sanctioned youth-focused workforce solutions!
 
Remember, too, that you can post your jobs on the CMMA website, another tool in your recruitment toolbox!  
 
Thanks, too, for completing our surveys, your input always matters.
 
Let us know if you have a virtual tour of your company, we’ll help you to get it out far and wide in our area! 
 
News on horizon regarding CMMA’s involvement in Inclusive Workforce Employer Designation is coming soon. In correlation with our workforce development initiatives this new work will help to reduce disparities and raise awareness of the value of and methods for increasing diversity by creating a designation to recognize and promote inclusive employers. 
 
CMMA, contributing to the growth and success of manufacturers.     
 
In service,
Les Engel,
CMMA President