Spotlight on Workforce and Infrastructure
March 2016
By David Zaslawsky
Photography by Robert Fouts
When companies are being recruited to Alabama or considering expanding existing operations, infrastructure is at or near the top of the list along with education.
“You want safe roads,” said Sheron J. Rose, vice president of Community Strategies for the Montgomery Area Chamber of Commerce. She said that companies look at infrastructure “to move goods and services.” They want easy access, she said.
The Chamber supports improving and funding transportation infrastructure in the legislative session, which started in February. A legislative committee was a looking at a 12-cent increase on gas taxes, which have not been raised since 1992 – and 24 years later, vehicles get much better gas mileage, further reducing gas tax revenue.
“An adequate, improved and a sustainable infrastructure is vital for any community and essential to keeping our community competitive for economic development.” Rose said.
The Chamber’s Executive Committee recommended that in addition to simply supporting legislative infrastructure initiatives, that the Montgomery Area Chamber of Commerce should also join with other metro chambers and economic development organizations to support the efforts of the Alabama Alliance for Infrastructure. The alliance is a grassroots organization that emphasizes fiscal responsibility while addressing long-term solutions for improving roads and bridges across Alabama.
The alliance members “understand the importance of roads, bridges, infrastructure for economic development, quality of life, public health and safety,” Rose said. “You have to maintain your roads and bridges … I think it’s a priority.”
Corporations being recruited also want to know about a region’s education system. They are not only looking at their future workforce, but also where their employees’ children will attend school.
“We have to prepare a pipeline of students who are ready and prepared to either continue education, whether it’s at a two-year or four-year college, or be ready to go to work with the minimum skills needed for employers, but also with a work ethic,” Rose said. “It does no good if you have a great skill and no work ethic. In most instances companies will accept you with minimum skills needed and will teach you what they need you to know in terms of their product or processes if you’re willing to come to work on time; willing to be a dependable employee.”
She said that “education is everybody’s responsibility” and would like to see the community more aware of the impact education has on the quality of life and economic development – both in recruiting and retaining companies. “Education matters – it really does,” Rose said.
The Chamber supports initiatives for adequate funding for public education at all levels “starting with pre-K,” Rose said. “You have to understand the importance of beginning early with kids.”
The Chamber supports initiatives to strengthen and expand workforce development at all levels, including Alabama Industrial Development Training, Alabama Technology Network and the school district’s Montgomery Preparatory Academy for Career Technologies, which is scheduled to open in August at One Center – the former site of the Montgomery Mall.
Downtown Montgomery and the riverfront have benefited from various tax credits and the Chamber supports those initiatives, including historic tax credits, new market tax incentives, cultural district incentives and other vehicles that boost revitalization.
“I think it presents future opportunities,” Rose said about downtown and the riverfront, where a handful of projects are under way and the city is in talks with two or three hotel groups.
More businesses and more hotels mean a growing tax base, which improves the quality of life in the River Region. “Quality of life is important for recruitment; for retention; for making sure there are opportunities for our students upon graduation to … to remain at home or to return home,” Rose said.
The Chamber’s Governmental Task Force, led by Chairman Horace Horn, determined that the areas that would have the most impact on Chamber members were business and economic development; education and workforce development; and tax and fiscal policy.
