Client Description

The Ohio Manufacturers' Association (OMA) is Ohio's statewide manufacturing association, representing manufacturers and leading initiatives that strengthen the state's manufacturing workforce. Through funding from the U.S. Department of Commerce's Economic Development Administration (EDA) Good Jobs Challenge, OMA coordinated a large-scale, employer-led workforce initiative spanning the entire state. The project brought together more than 100 training providers, regional Industry Sector Partnerships (ISPs), manufacturers, workforce organizations, and education partners to expand manufacturing talent pipelines and connect Ohioans with quality careers.

Client's Dilemma

Managing performance reporting across a statewide network of partners presented a significant challenge. With hundreds of participating employers and more than 100 training providers collecting and reporting participant data, OMA needed a consistent, reliable system that would ensure high-quality reporting, support local partners, and meet EDA's rigorous performance and compliance requirements. 

How New Growth Helped

New Growth served as OMA's performance reporting and summative evaluation partner throughout the grant. We developed and coordinated a comprehensive performance reporting process that emphasized consistency, accuracy, and continuous improvement across the statewide network.

Our team delivered statewide training webinars, provided ongoing technical assistance to Industry Sector Partnerships and training providers, answered reporting questions as they arose, and coordinated performance reporting submitted directly to the U.S. Economic Development Administration. By working closely with regional partners, New Growth helped establish standardized reporting practices, improve data quality, and ensure that reporting requirements were understood and consistently implemented.

The strength of this work was recognized nationally when New Growth was invited to present data collection best practices at the Good Jobs Challenge Annual Convening, sharing lessons learned with grant recipients from across the country.

Partners and Their Roles

• Ohio Manufacturers' Association (OMA): Lead applicant and statewide project coordinator, responsible for overall program implementation and employer engagement.
• Industry Sector Partnerships (ISPs): Regional manufacturing collaboratives that coordinated employer engagement, participant recruitment, and local implementation.
• Training Providers: More than 100 education and workforce organizations that delivered training, supportive services, and participant reporting.
• New Growth: Performance reporting, technical assistance, training, summative evaluation support, and EDA performance reporting coordination.

The Good Jobs Challenge exceeded expectations across nearly every measure. By the conclusion of the grant, the initiative had surpassed its original performance goals by approximately 20 percent, placing more than 4,200 Ohioans into quality manufacturing careers compared to the original goal of 3,600. More than 900 manufacturers participated in the effort, helping create stronger connections between employers, workforce organizations, and education partners.

Equally important, the project established a durable statewide infrastructure for employer-led workforce collaboration. Throughout the grant, EDA consistently recognized the project for its high standards of data quality and performance reporting, with each submission reflecting the strength of the reporting systems developed by OMA and New Growth.

Following the grant's conclusion, OMA and New Growth have continued their partnership to sustain the data collection and reporting processes established during the initiative. Together, they are helping Industry Sector Partnerships maintain secure, consistent, and familiar reporting systems that allow Ohio's manufacturing network to continue measuring outcomes, demonstrating impact, and strengthening the state's manufacturing workforce for years to come.