For generations, manufacturing was the lifeblood of the community in southeast Indiana. Like many areas in recent years, however, this 10-county region of the Hoosier State looked on as its industrial base eroded, caught in the landslide of a crumbling American auto industry.
Not content to let its belt rust, the region in 2007 created a career-awareness campaign called Southeast Indiana Dream It. Do It. Backed by the National Association of Manufacturers, the program has produced so much momentum for the local manufacturing industry that, just two years after its creation, Southeast Indiana Dream It. Do It. won the 2009 Progressive Manufacturing High Achiever award in the Education and Training category.
Jim Battin, leader of the program, says its backers have been busy. They’ve developed a coalition of more than 500 regional leaders in education, workforce development, economic development, manufacturing companies, and community roles; created an educational model stretching from middle school to adult learners to provide a learning pathway for future manufacturers; recognized dozens of “High School Champions,” who serve as emissaries, sharing information on manufacturing as a preferred career choice; and much more.
Those efforts have helped revive a flagging manufacturing sector and the education system that feeds it. Enrollment in high school and post-secondary manufacturing and STEM (science, technology, engineering, and math) courses grew 5% in a six-month period (an increase of 1,300 students). Manufacturing employment ticked up 0.2% in the region while the rest of the state experienced a 6% decrease. And the program trained 1,000 employees in manufacturing-related courses.