Recent Ohio college graduates are fleeing the state to find careers in other parts of the country, a trend which has Gov. Bob Taft worried.
To study the causes of this “brain drain,” Taft launched the Graduate Retention Grant Initiative. The initiative provides funding to 11 member-based organizations in Ohio, most of which are chambers of commerce, community development groups and education associations. Their goal is to identify the causes of Ohio’s exodus of graduates and find solutions.
“The initiative grew out of the governor’s concern that recent graduates weren’t staying in Ohio, and he wanted to find out why,” said Daryl Hennessy, executive director of the Ohio Workforce Policy Board.
Jobs in high-tech and high-paying fields are leaving the state, which can have negative effects on an already suffering state economy.
“Our biggest concerns have been the loss in high-tech areas. We want to keep these high paying jobs in Ohio,” said the governor’s spokesman Joe Andrews.
The first phase of the initiative, which involves taking surveys and gathering data on the brain drain trend in Ohio, is under way.
The 11 organizations involved in the initiative have been granted up to $20,000 to conduct phase one of the plan.
“Phase two will take place from February to June. After gathering the data from their surveys, the organizations that have come up with graduate retention plans will receive an additional $65,000 to implement their programs,” Hennessy said.
The objective of the initiative is to design programs that will result in the retention of Ohio’s college graduates, which will keep the high-paying jobs in Ohio.
“The funds are being dispersed to find out why college graduates are leaving and to implement policies to keep recent graduates in the state,” Hennessy said.
In the end, the Graduate Retention Grant Initiative will give out about $1 million in funding to the 11 organizations.
“The money will come from federal funds,” said Dennis Evans, a spokesman for the Ohio Department of Jobs and Family Services.
The federal funding is through the Workforce Investment Act of 1998. The WIA was enacted to streamline federal workforce initiatives and provide means for states to improve their workforce.
The governor has a special discretionary fund through the WIA that will be used to fund the initiative.
The Ohio Department of Development and the Ohio Department of Jobs and Family Services, will be responsible for distributing the grants from the WIA funds.
At this point in the project, learning why graduates are abandoning Ohio is the main concern.
“We want to find out why recent graduates are leaving so we can then develop programs to keep the educated, high-tech jobs in the state,” Andrews said.
For more information, visit: www.ohioworkforce.org.
