5-Job Market Representation

The following pages represent a summary of our schools responses for the 2022-23 addedum, submitted as a part of our 2023-24 plan.  To see our full response, please view our 2023-24 plan.  

5. How are the members of the business advisory council representative of the job market of the area you serve? (Specify industries represented on the business advisory council reflective of in-demand occupations in the area.)

The members of the Lorain County Business Advisory Council are representative of the job market in our region.  We had a total of 34 members when the 2022-23 plan was put in place.  We added 13 new members by the end of the year to increase our representation in high demand sectors.  At the end of the year, we had a total of 47 members, which is an increase of 36% over the year!

In our region, the highest in demand sectors are Health Care, Manufacturing and Information Technology.  For each sector, we increased our businesses by 50% over the course of the year.  New partnerships are noted by italics.  

IN DEMAND SECTORS - Lorain County

Health Care (50% increase) → Cleveland Clinic Avon Hospital, University Hospitals

Manufacturing (157% increase) → Ross Environmental, Bettcher Industries, Nordson, Thogus Products, AJ Rose, Absolute Machine Tools, Master Bolt, Bendix Commercial Vehicle Systems, Berrington Pumps & Systems, Advanced Polymers coatings, AgriNomix LLC, Ely Enterprises Inc, EMC Precision, JBT Corp, EMERSON/Ridgid, Multilink, NN Inc, Pactiv Evergreen, Stanley Engineered Fastening-Nelson. 

Information Technology → (50% increase) → Spacebound, LogiSync

HEALTH CARE

A strong partner with the Lorain County BAC is the Cleveland Clinic Avon Hospital.  The Cleveland Clinic Avon Hospital is our local hospital located in Avon Ohio.  It is a part of the larger Cleveland Clinic Hospital system known worldwide for their healthcare services.  

The Cleveland Clinic Avon Hospital provided extensive student experiences through our Real World Student Sessions series.  During the 2021-22 year, we facilitated multiple educator visits to the Cleveland Clinic, which allowed our teachers, principals, and other educators to learn more about the in demand jobs in healthcare.  Many of our participants requested student visits following their visit. As a result, the Cleveland Clinic Avon Hospital and the Lorain County BAC developed a monthly session for students to participate in a 4 hour hands-on behind the scenes experience.  Last year, this experience allowed all  14 of our high schools to send 5 students to participate, or a total of 70 students over the course of seven months.  This partnership has provided a small targeted number of students with experiences so they can make informed decisions around their career paths.  

While the Cleveland Clinic Avon Hospital has been a premiere partner, they have limited capacity to accommodate additional visits while maintaining quality patient care.  As a result, last year we recruited University Hospitals.  We are currently in conversations with them about how we can replicate or create a similar unique experience for students and educators.  We are proud to state we have increased our healthcare partners by 50%!  

MANUFACTURING

Manufacturing is one of, if not the strongest industry in Lorain County!  At the start of our 2022-23 school year, our BAC plan had 8 manufacturing partners.  By the end of the year, we added an additional 12 manufacturing partners!  We were able to add these members through our partnership with the Lorain County Manufacturing Sector Partnership (LCMSP).  The LCMSP has become one of our strongest partners.  As you can see under our 2022-23 Coordinate Experience link, we have provided a number of experiences for students and educators with our manufacturing partners!  We are proud to state we have increased our manufacturing partners by 157%!

INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY

Information technology is our third highest in demand sector in Lorain County. Spacebound has been a strong partner with our BAC since it was founded in 2018. This year, we added LogiSync to our list of partners.  LogiSync specializes in the Internet of Things (IoT) and has been an exceptional partner, participating in many events over the course of the year! Ed Yenni, the president of the company has helped our educators understand how internet connected devices, embedded in everything from refrigerators to sump pump alarms provide connectivity to our phones for notifications and increased functionality. We are excited to have found a partner in an emerging field of information technology who is willing to take time to help educators and students understand how creating the hardware and software code for interconnected devices will provide careers for students in Lorain County!  We are proud to state we have increased our information technology partners by 50%!

We want to emphasize the importance of all of our BAC business partners outside of these high demand sectors. We believe all sectors are important, support our community and future careers for students.  We have several retailers including Sam’s Club, The Superprinter, and even a local pizza shop.  These retailers provide valuable experiences for our students, especially those transition students who need work based learning experience as they transition from high school to careers.  

Finally we want to note we have a number of community based organizations who support our BAC. These include the United Way of Lorain County, the Lorain County Metroparks, the Lorain County Community Development, OhioMeansJobs - Lorain County extension, MJ Crosker & Associates LLC, Nordson, and the Lorain County Community College.