CONVENE-CONNECT-COMMIT is the strategy put forth in EnterpriseSouth.biz to foster a cultural shift in the South towards an enterprise Economy and workforce. The three-step process is designed to bring stakeholders together in the South to build momentum and create sustainable change.

Step One:
The CONVENE objective suggests that Governors and other Southern leaders from the business, government, non-profit and education communities CONVENE a series of conversations with all those with a stake in the future of the Southern workforce.

The CONVENE objective is intended to make sure that all stakeholders are communicating and that parents, students and businesses are viewed as the principal “clients” of the education enterprise.

Step Two:
The CONNECT objective suggests that stakeholders involved in the convene conversations create strategies to CONNECT the disparate elements of existing education and workforce training systems (including K-12 and post-secondary) to maximize effectiveness, minimize overlaps and conflicts, and reward behavior that is visionary, entrepreneurial and innovative.

For example, to use the multitude of funding streams related to education and workforce more cost-effectively and creatively and to leverage financial, institutional and human resources.

Step Three:
The COMMIT objective suggests that participants COMMIT to the creation and success of EnterpriseSouth.biz, a non-partisan compact to build a Southern workforce that is knowledgeable, entrepreneurial and innovative. This may include a formal state-level compact in which all parties sign the document and are accountable. Ideally, the progress of the contract would be evaluated periodically to keep the momentum of the
CONVENE-COMMIT-CONNECT strategy going.

Southern Growth Policies Board, P.O. Box 12293, Research Triangle Park, NC 27709
Phone: (919) 941-5145, Fax: (919) 941-5594, Email: info@southern.org