Savannah Economic Development Authority announces regional workforce coalition
The Savannah Economic Development Authority (SEDA) announced at its Dec. 12 board meeting the official formation of a regional employer facilitation coalition, formerly referred to as the Coastal Employers’ Forum. SEDA leaders and newly announced President and CEO of the organization, Anna Chafin, are entertaining suggestions for an official name, which should materialize as the coalition takes shape after the first of the new year.
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New joint workforce coalition could be made up of '12 to 20 counties'
Chafin has spent the last 10 years as the chief executive officer (CEO) of the Development Authority of Bryan County. In 2022, she received the Georgia Economic Developer’s Association Rip Wiley Award for Professional Excellence. She has also been an integral partner in the Savannah Harbor-Interstate 16 Corridor Joint Development Authority (JDA) made up of economic development groups from Bryan, Bulloch, Chatham and Effingham counties.
Chafin and her colleague Justin Farquhar, the vice president of the Development Authority of Bryan County, will step down from their posts at the end of the year. Farquhar will be joining Chafin as the vice president of the new coalition. Also joining Chafin on the coalition’s board of directors will be Maria Whitfield (currently director of workforce at JDA) and Jennifer Collins (currently SEDA’s Business Development Project Manager).
According to SEDA’s Workforce Study, released in November, the multi-county coalition will “facilitate messaging for human resource (HR) guidelines relative to the region’s HR best practices for recruiting and retaining employees, address childcare as well as establish programs and initiatives that improve labor supply.”
As far as how many counties will make up the coalition, Chafin said that remains unclear. “We have a general idea based on the results of the study, but we're going to dig deep into that in January/February timeframe to identify who we think are the best partners for the organization in terms of counties.”
The coalition is SEDA’s answer to some of the sobering findings from its recently publicized workforce study. "There will probably be 12 to potentially 20 counties that might be included in this because that's the impact area of all the jobs in terms of industrial jobs that are coming to the region over the next 10 years."
Chafin and SEDA President and CEO Trip Tollison both stated that the coalition would focus on more than simply the workforce areas highlighted in the study.
When questioned about what other workforce shortage areas, such as healthcare, might be a focus of the new coalition, Chafin said, "We're going to start with what the workforce study identified." She said the goal is to start with the industrial jobs and then look at adding additional industries. "If we've got people that want to move here from outside the area, hopefully they'll have spouses and trailing dependents that may also be looking for jobs, whether it's in healthcare or working in a small business or something like that."
The task forces that will be formed soon under the regional coalition would cover the following areas:
Military Resources
Underrepresented populations, such as minority groups, workers with disabilities, and "second-chance" hires like retirees or people re-entering the workforce
Housing
Education
Transportation
Regional marketing to attract new talent
“The good news is we've already got a great existing infrastructure of workforce resources,” said Chafin. “What I see this group doing is being the convener and making sure that we're maximizing those resources.”
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In addition to the coalition announcement, the board approved updates to SEDA's Incentive Policies as well as updates to the Policy and Procedures Manual. One major change to the manual's language was the use of the term "chairman." With the incoming chair being SEDA's first female in the role, current Vice-Chair Kay Ford, the organization felt it appropriate to update the term to "chairperson."
The board approved Tollison's 2024 Business Plan and 2024 Proposed Budget as well as a grant of $250,000 to the newly created Savannah Waterfront Community Improvement District. The Waterfront CID was formed earlier this year to address upgrades along River Street. Ansley Williams, president and CEO of Live Oak Restaurant Group and CID officer, was on hand to receive the news. Williams had presented the CID's request for funds at a previous SEDA meeting.
Outgoing Chairperson Paul Hinchey said, "Your presentation was very thorough. That's why this thing went down so fast."
Joseph Schwartzburt is the education and workforce development reporter for the Savannah Morning News. You can reach him at JSchwartzburt@gannett.com.
This article originally appeared on Savannah Morning News: SEDA taps Anna Chafin to head new regional workforce coalition
