The Texas Economic Development Council (TEDC) presented a Workforce Excellence Award to the Lubbock Economic Development Alliance (LEDA) at a special awards breakfast Thursday morning at the TEDC’s Mid-Year Conference in Irving, Texas. The LEDA Team was recognized for their efforts with the South Plains High Demand Training Project, the SEMI High Tech University with X-Fab Texas and the partnership establishing the South Plains College Career and Technical Education Center.
The Workforce Excellence Award program recognizes exceptional contributions by a Texas community or region that has implemented successful workforce initiatives. The TEDC’s Workforce Development Committee reviewed applications from 16 communities and organizations. Nominees were then judged on five criteria: innovativeness, transferability, community commitment and leverage, measured objectives and secondary benefits.
The first program recognized with the award was the High Demand Skills Training grant awarded by the Texas Workforce Commission, which was a partnership between LEDA and Workforce Solutions. This grant funded career and technical education equipment and supplies for six area school districts.
The second program was the SEMI High Tech University, which is a STEM focused career exploration program facilitated by X-Fab, Texas. X-Fab partnered with LEDA and other corporate sponsors to bring in 37 high school students to learn the fundamentals of electronics, semiconductor manufacturing, microchip logic and more.
The final workforce initiative described the partnership between South Plains College, LEDA, the CH Foundation and the Helen Jones Foundation to fund the South Plains College Career and Technical Education Center, which will create an expanded technical presence in an underserved area of Lubbock.
“Our TEDC’s Workforce Excellence Award is one of the ways in which our organization honors the outstanding work done by our communities and regions, their leaders, and their economic development professionals in the area of workforce development,” noted Carlton Schwab, president/CEO of the TEDC.”
“It’s an incredible honor to receive this award from our industry peers,” John Osborne, president and CEO of the Lubbock Economic Development Alliance, said. “LEDA’s workforce efforts have been ramping up over the past year, and we know that without the strong partnerships developed and maintained with these organizations, we wouldn’t have been presented this award.”
About LEDA
Since its inception in 2004, LEDA has assisted 140 companies with their expansion or relocation to Lubbock. These companies committed to creating 6,283 jobs and investing more than $531 million in new capital improvements that have resulted in $1.2 billion in cumulative economic impact to the Lubbock area.
About TEDC
The TEDC was organized in 1961 and provides information, education and legislative services to its members to foster the expansion of existing businesses, the location of new firms and the development of strategies that promote a positive business climate in Texas. With over 850 members, the TEDC is now the largest state economic development association in the nation.
(News release from LEDA)