Ensuring High-Value Talent Pathways in Montgomery County
For 25 years, USG has delivered on its promise, offering high-value programs that help meet the critical talent needs of local employers. Collective impact best practices call for five key elements: A common agenda, shared measurement systems, mutually reinforcing activities, continuous communication, and backbone support organizations.
USG serves as a backbone organization for Montgomery County, along with the Montgomery County Economic Development Corporation (MCEDC) and others, working with cross-sector partners to achieve collective impact in building an inclusive talent pipeline for the region. To unify and strengthen shared measurement systems for regional talent goals, County Executive Marc Elrich led public and private support to launch the READY Institute at USG.
The nationally regarded Maryland Longitudinal Data System (MLDS) Center, partnered with the Maryland Higher Education Commission, the Maryland Department of Labor, and other State agencies, helps answer some important questions about the trajectory of students, including postsecondary data for those who continue to study and work in Maryland after high school. In collaboration with the University System of Maryland, our new READY Institute data dashboards build on MLDS data and answer more questions about Montgomery County’s talent pipeline - including for graduates who continue their education and careers outside Maryland, with national data from industry-leading sources.
READY stands for Resilient Education for All, Designed for You! Now led by nationally recognized education and workforce expert Dr. Rudy Ruiz, our team engages with state agencies, educational institutions, and industry leaders to organize and share the most comprehensive and robust education-to-career data available, organized by industry hub.
The long-term goal for the work of the READY Institute and our employer engagement strategy is to establish the USG campus as the prime location to complete a degree or attain a credential because of our campus community’s deep connection to and understanding of “what it takes” to be competitive for workforce opportunities in our region’s high-demand, high-skill sectors.
