The Council for a New Economy Workforce

List of Council Members
List of Publications
Contact Program Staff
Supporting Sector Strategies in the South, a New White Paper

In today's knowledge-driven economy, no state or local economy can be more competitive than its workforce enables it to be. The Council for a New Economy Workforce (CNEW) is a regional forum that seeks to bring this message-and its policy implications-to the South's leaders and citizens. CNEW conducts policy research and promotes innovative workforce development programs to accelerate the South's transition from a low-skill, branch plant economy to one characterized by skilled labor and entrepreneurial talent. The council works with leaders in the region to prepare and strengthen the Southern workforce to compete in the Knowledge Economy.

Current Projects

EnterpriseSouth.biz The Council for a New Economy Workforce led Southern Growth Policies Board's efforts in researching and releasing the 2007 Report on the Future of the South: EnterpriseSouth.biz. The report calls for a cultural shift in the South to an enterprise economy, characterized by a workforce that is knowledgeable, entrepreneurial and innovative.  EnterpriseSouth.biz outlines a three-pronged strategy: CONVENE, CONNECT and COMMIT to create an enterprise economy and workforce. Southern Growth also created a website of the same name to document the region's process. For more information, visit the link above.

The Southern Sector Initiative is a new initiative of the Council for a New Economy Workforce that promotes the use of sector strategies as a tool to build the region's knowledge economy workforce. Visit the link to see materials from the first Southern Sector Meeting in Jackson, Mississippi in September, 2007.

Supporting Sector Strategies in the South, a new white paper from Southern Growth and collaborator and the National Network of Sector Partners (NNSP), highlights the success of five Southern states with workforce development solutions that are leading to the establishment and success of high-growth, high-wage industries. The paper suggests steps toward replicating this success throughout the South.

For more information on the Council for a New Economy Workforce, contact Ray Taylor at rtaylor@southern.org.