Strategic Partner Showcase: Bowling Green Area Chamber of Commerce Building Ecosystem for Innovation-Minded Talent Development

The Bowling Green Area Chamber of Commerce has spent more than a decade focused on incorporating innovation and leadership into childhood education, to establish an engaged community of young people ready to lead the way into careers of the future. It’s in part that focus on skills for jobs of the future that drove the Chamber to be part of the formative conversations that led to the creation of MI2.

This work began with the development of “The Leader in Me” program for the Bowling Green and Warren County school districts at the elementary school level, in partnership with FranklinCovey. The concept was built around Stephen R. Covey’s 2008 book The Leader in Me–applying the concepts of Covey’s The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People into an educational setting. In the 13 years since that program began, 13 county and city elementary schools have received Leader in Me Lighthouse Status, a benchmark certification established by FranklinCovey to ensure leadership principles are being reflected throughout school culture and curriculum.

In 2016, the Bowling Green Area Chamber aimed to build upon the leadership foundation with an intentional conversation regarding careers. The Chamber convened 50 educators from our two school districts and 50 business leaders and together they built a new initiative – SCK LAUNCH. SCK LAUNCH stands for “South Central Kentucky Learning About Unique and New Careers Here.” The collaborative community approach is an overarching talent development strategy that carries through to graduation. It prepares students by providing opportunities to explore and identify their interests and integrate those with relevant work and real-world experiences.

At the middle school level, SCK LAUNCH runs a successful interactive career expo called Experience, each fall for 8th graders in city and county schools, giving students visibility in a wide range of career opportunities in the area in a hands-on fashion. Built around that event are school-based career coursework/training opportunities, career shadowing programs for juniors and seniors, and job placement fairs for high school seniors. Additionally, SCK LAUNCH offers educator externships to increase the awareness of middle and high school educators on the opportunities available and how their curriculum is used in business.

Ultimately, SCK LAUNCH empowers all students to leverage their options upon graduation. The community’s collective impact approach inspires the powerful education and business partnership necessary to create the talent pipeline for high-demand sectors to grow our economy. This is accomplished through a common agenda, shared momentum and mutually reinforcing activities.

With their educational and business partners–as well as the continued development of their relationship with FranklinCovey–the Chamber is excited about new 2023 announcements and further development of programs to support continued development of talented professionals ready for jobs of the future in the region.