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Photo: Kentucky Cabinet For Economic Development
Gov. Matt Bevin, Cabinet for Economic Development Sec. Terry Gill, other state officials and business representatives will attend the 52nd International Paris Air Show in France this week to discuss new business and expansion opportunities with aviation and aerospace executives from around the globe.
“Kentucky is a top location in the U.S. for aviation and aerospace engineering, manufacturing and R&D. We offer formidable advanced-manufacturing resources and experience, plus workforce programs that set the bar nationally, logistics hubs that deliver products nearly anywhere globally overnight, and a network of available sites and buildings in attractive communities,” Gov. Bevin said. “Meetings we have scheduled with corporate executives during the Paris Air Show will give us the opportunity to demonstrate how Kentucky meets their needs and provides the environment for long-term success.”
First held in 1909, the Paris Air Show is the world’s largest aerospace event. It brings together key players in the aerospace industry to pursue business deals, showcase technology and develop industrial partnerships.
“Aerospace has been one of the fastest growing industries in Kentucky for several years now, and it is important we use every opportunity to build upon that success,” Sec. Gill said. “The Paris Air Show provides the greatest opportunity to do just that. The ability to meet in person with aerospace executives from around the world and discuss Kentucky’s many advantages will go a long way toward developing new relationships and strengthening those we have already established.”
Across Kentucky, the aerospace industry is on the rise.
Through May 2017, Kentucky announced more than $1.3 billion in investment by aerospace-related companies. Projects include the nation’s first aluminum rolling mill built on a greenfield site in more than a generation. The Braidy Industries mill, expected to open in 2020, will produce high-strength aluminum alloy sheet for the aviation and aerospace industry as well as other sectors. The investments are expected to create nearly 600 full-time jobs.
Already, the aviation and aerospace sector is a pillar of Kentucky’s economy. It employs nearly 17,000 people statewide at almost 80 different manufacturing, service and technology-related facilities. Advanced manufacturers of carbon brakes, jet engines and turbines, cockpit avionics, wiring and control systems, micro satellites, software development, data analytics, advanced materials R&D, micro-gravity research services, industry logistics and support services and missile defense system manufacturing and overhauling.
Aerospace products and parts continue to be Kentucky’s top export category, with more than $10.8 billion in products shipped abroad in 2016. Nearly $2.9 billion in aerospace products were exported from the commonwealth in the first quarter of 2017, a 9.4-percent increase over the same months a year ago.
To learn more about Kentucky’s aerospace industry, visit http://thinkkentucky.com/Aerospace/.
This year’s Paris Air Show will include more than 2,300 exhibitors with more than 130 aircraft scheduled to be on display.
In 2015, the air show shattered its previous attendance records with more than 350,000 visitors, including more than 4,300 journalists from 72 countries.
To learn more about the Paris Air Show, visit www.siae.fr/en/.
Information on Kentucky’s economic development efforts and programs is available at ThinkKentucky.com. Fans of the Cabinet for Economic Development can also join the discussion on Facebook or follow on Twitter. Watch the Cabinet’s “This is My Kentucky” video on YouTube.
Gov. Matt Bevin today announced the creation of the Kentucky Work Matters Task Force at a press conference with federal and state officials and other special guests in the State Capitol Rotunda.
The new 23-member task force will bring together every department of state government that has a hand in workforce development with members of the private sector. Their mission is to address barriers to employment and promote workforce inclusion among people with disabilities, foster children, disabled veterans, and individuals burdened by substance abuse or criminal records.
“There is dignity that comes from work, and there is a sense of satisfaction and respect—for oneself and for others—that comes from being an engaged part of the community,” said Gov. Bevin. “And there’s nothing more integral than the dignity associated with being part of the fabric of that community through work.”
Deputy Assistant Secretary Jennifer Sheehy of the U.S. Department of Labor (DOL) Office of Disability Employment Policy commended Kentucky, which is the first state in the nation to initiate such a task force.
“We realize that the real change and the real work does not happen at the federal level,” said Deputy Assistant Secretary Sheehy. “We need to look at what federal policies do work, but also what is happening in states that works—and then support that.”
Gov. Bevin and Deputy Assistant Secretary Sheehy were joined at the press conference by Council of State Governments director/CEO David Adkins, Kentucky Labor Cabinet Secretary Derrick Ramsey, Kentucky Education and Workforce Development Cabinet Secretary Hal Heiner, and Kentucky Cabinet for Economic Development executive officer Vivek Sarin.
Also participating in today’s event were Little Caesars Pizza franchisee Mike Michalak, Cincinnati Reds batboy Teddy Kremer, and Spalding University men’s golf coaches Michael Carter and Grant Gupton, who underscored what can be achieved when individuals are given opportunities.
Current statistics show Kentucky’s labor participation rate at 54.7 percent, well below the national average of 62.9 percent. In addition, 15.7 percent of the Commonwealth’s population is classified as “disabled,” compared to only 10.4 percent nationally.
Gov. Bevin strongly believes that citizens with disabilities and Kentuckians facing other obstacles to employment have valuable and unique contributions to lend to our society and our labor force, yet in many cases are underutilized. Employment is the most direct and cost-effective means to empower these individuals to achieve independence, economic self-sufficiency, and a greater sense of dignity and self-worth.
The Kentucky Work Matters Task Force will work closely with the U.S. Department of Labor (DOL) Office of Disability Employment Policy and their State Exchange on Employment & Disability (SEED). SEED is a collaborative effort with state intermediary organizations, including the National Conference of State Legislatures (NCSL) and The Council of State Governments (CSG), to help state leaders effectively address policy barriers that may hinder the employment of people with disabilities.
Members of the task force include:
- Adam Meier, deputy chief of staff for Gov. Bevin
- Secretary Scott Brinkman, Executive Cabinet
- Secretary Vickie Yates Brown Glisson, Cabinet for Health and Family Services
- Secretary John Tilley, Justice and Public Safety Cabinet
- Secretary Derrick Ramsey, Labor Cabinet
- Secretary Hal Heiner, Education and Workforce Development Cabinet
- Secretary Tom Stephens, Personnel Cabinet
- Secretary Greg Thomas, Transportation Cabinet
- Vivek Sarin, Cabinet for Economic Development executive officer
- Deputy Commissioner Bryan Hubbard, Division of Income Support
- Buddy Hoskinson, Department for Aging and Independent Living
- Commissioner Beth Kuhn, Department of Workforce Investment
- Commissioner Stephen Pruitt, Department of Education
- President Bob King, Council on Postsecondary Education
- Senator John Schickel
- Senator Robin Webb
- Representative Jim DeCesare
- Representative Arnold Simpson
- Katie Shepherd, Kentucky Supreme Court designee
- Mike Michalak, citizen at-large (Shelbyville)
- Katie Wolf Whaley, citizen at-large (Lexington)
- Beth Davisson, citizen at-large (Louisville)
- Tim McGurk, citizen at-large (Prospect)
The group will present a final report that will include policy recommendations on improving workforce participation rates for individuals with disabilities, as well as other populations with impediments to employment, across the Commonwealth.
Today’s full press conference can be viewed on Gov. Bevin’s Facebook page, and an infographic detailing factors affecting Kentucky’s workforce can be downloaded here.
Photo: KY Department of Corrections
Department of Corrections Deputy Commissioner Kimberly Potter-Blair today announced that Jessica Johnson has been selected as a program administrator in the Curriculum Branch of the Division of Corrections Training. Her new position was effective June 1.
“Jessica Johnson has a long history in training, both in the department and during her military service,” said Potter-Blair. “I know the experience and expertise she brings to this position will be invaluable.”
Johnson began her career with the Department of Corrections in 2012 as a correctional officer at the Kentucky Correctional Institution for Women (KCIW). She was then promoted to sergeant in June 2013. From 2014 to 2015 Johnson provided research, curriculum development and coordinated training when she was promoted to institutional training coordinator. She was promoted to a unit administrator in October 2015, where she also served as the KCIW Corrections Emergency Response Team (CERT) commander. In March 2016 she assumed the role of training coordinator/instructor at the Harold E. Black Training Center in LaGrange.
Johnson is a veteran of the United States Army National Guard. She received numerous medals during her military service, including an Army achievement medal and the National Defense Service Medal. She has served as an instructor for the use of firearms, Tasers, and controlled force during her corrections career. She is a member of the Kentucky Council on Crime and Delinquency (KCCD). Other noteworthy accomplishments include graduating from the I-LEAD program, participation in CERT from 2013 to present, and being a recipient of the 2013 Achievement Award for KCIW. Johnson obtained her bachelor’s degree in business administration at Strayer University in 2014.
In his ongoing efforts to help improve responses to victims, Attorney General Andy Beshear and his Office of Victims Advocacy have created a statewide map of victim advocates that includes local and regional prosecutors and law enforcement agencies.
A core mission of Beshear’s is to seek justice for victims, and the map is necessary to strengthen and publicize the network of victim advocacy across the Commonwealth, Beshear said.
“We are focused on empowering victims of crime, including advancing victim-centered services, trainings and policy, and raising awareness,” Beshear said. “This map will guide survivors and their families to the appropriate agency in their county or region who can counsel them and advise them of their rights as victims.”
The map provides information on the state’s victim advocates – county attorneys, commonwealth’s attorneys, sheriffs’ offices, police departments and the AG’s office.
Beshear said Kentuckians become victims every day from surviving the violent death of a family member, sexual assault, child sexual abuse, domestic violence, gun violence and other violent crimes. Having information about their rights and access to advocacy may help victims in their healing and pursuit of justice, he said.
Beshear’s Office of Victims Advocacy will host the Victims Assistance Conference June 13 and 14 in Frankfort at the Administrative Office of the Courts to train victim advocates, survivor leaders, prosecutors, law enforcement and other allied professionals.
At the conference, Beshear’s office will present the inaugural Attorney General Distinguished Service Award to Marlene Zimmerman. Zimmerman is a victim advocate with the Jefferson County Attorney’s Office of Domestic Violence, Sex Crimes and Child Abuse Unit. Zimmerman is being recognized for “her tireless commitment, distinguished service and significant contribution to protecting victims’ rights to justice, and to improving the treatment of crime victims over the past 23 years,” Beshear said.
The conference will feature national speaker Julie Brand. Participants may choose from multiple workshops and plenary sessions for new, intermediate and advanced victim advocates. Educational topics include promoting resiliency for victims/self; ethics in victim services; examining hate crimes; navigating human trafficking cases; stalking; and sexual assault forensic exam (SAFE) kit research.
Beshear provided $4.5 million in settlement money to lawmakers in 2016 to fund requested Kentucky State Police crime lab upgrades and an additional $1 million from the settlement to aid law enforcement and prosecutors in conducting victim-centered investigations and prosecuting sexual assault offenders.
Along with funding, Beshear has created a survivors council; held multiple state trainings on the SAFE kit backlog; launched a collaborative research project with the University of Louisville to provide accountability to address the backlog; and collaborated with the Kentucky Association of Sexual Assault Programs to hold the #VoiceOfJustice video contest to raise awareness of sexual assault on campus.
Attorney General Andy Beshear today announced that his office is working with Tennessee law enforcement to focus on the effective prosecution of vehicular homicide cases.
The annual training event, being held in Pigeon Forge June 13-15, brings together Kentucky commonwealth’s attorneys with prosecutors from the Tennessee District Attorney’s Office and crash reconstruction officers from both states.
“Unfortunately, the Commonwealth has experienced a 10 percent increase in annual highway fatalities from 2015 through 2016,” Beshear said. “My administration is focused on addressing the persistent challenges our families face, and one of those is better addressing Kentucky’s drug epidemic. Every time our families, our friends or our children get in a vehicle, they are at risk of being harmed by a driver under the influence of drugs and/or alcohol.”
In 2016, 834 people were killed on Kentucky’s roadways.
A statistic that remains constant, Beshear said, is that one in five highway fatalities are in crashes that involved alcohol.
In Kentucky last year, there were more than 6,228 collisions involving alcohol and drugs, resulting in more than 2,900 injuries and 167 fatalities.
Advanced training in this area by prosecutors and crash reconstructionists will improve the ability of prosecutors to both recognize these events as well as to successfully prosecute them when warranted, Beshear said.
Attorney General’s Traffic Safety Resource Prosecutor Robert Stokes will work in coordination with his Tennessee counterpart to present the training, which is open to the media. The training is at the Courtyard Marriott at 120 Community Drive in Pigeon Forge.
The goal of the training is to create a team building approach between crash reconstruction officers and state prosecutors, Stokes said.
The training is presented under the direction of the American Prosecutors Research Institute’s (APRI) National Traffic Law Center. Last year’s training was held at Lake Barkley State Park in Cadiz.
Photo: Kentucky Cabinet For Economic Development
Kentucky received a 2017 Gold Shovel award from Area Development magazine, recognizing the commonwealth’s success last year attracting corporate investments that create jobs and grow the economy, Gov. Matt Bevin and the publication’s editors announced earlier this week.
The honor, a first for Kentucky, follows the recent announcement that, in only five months of 2017, the state shattered its all-time, full-year record for corporate investment.
“This Gold Shovel award brings additional national attention to the fact Kentucky is a serious economic development contender, both in our recent achievements and for what we have in the pipeline,” Gov. Bevin said. “We’re making changes to improve Kentucky’s business climate by cutting red tape, revolutionizing our workforce development and building our reputation internationally as a top choice for engineering and manufacturing projects, tech investment and service-related businesses. We’re honored to receive this award and are moving forward with focus and urgency to bring investment and new jobs to communities across Kentucky.”
The annual Shovel Awards by Area Development, a leading trade publication, recognize state economic development agencies that drive significant job creation through innovative policies, infrastructure improvements, processes and promotions that attract new employers and investments in new and expanded facilities.
Area Development invited each of the 50 states to submit information about its top-10 job creation and investment projects initiated in 2016. Based on the number of high-value-added jobs per capita, amount of investment, number of new facilities and industry diversity of the 10 submitted projects, Kentucky qualified for the Gold Shovel award among states with populations between 3 million and 5 million. The top-10 projects and associated job creation figures are listed here and a full report of 2016 corporate investment is available here.
“The states and communities receiving 2017 Shovel Awards have compiled impressive lists of new and expanded facilities,” said Geraldine Gambale, editor of Area Development. “They have found the right recipe for success and deserve to be recognized for winning high-impact economic development projects.”
Commenting on Kentucky’s award, she noted “the state’s economic growth is broad-based, as evidenced by new projects under way in a diverse range of sectors, including automotive, distribution, biotech and food processing.”
Terry Gill, Kentucky Cabinet for Economic Development secretary, said he expects the performance to continue throughout this year.
“This Gold Shovel award not only highlights policy achievements at the state level, but also recognizes the dedicated work of our Cabinet staff and our partners,” Sec. Gill said. “Without enthusiastic participation from regional, county and city economic development organizations, the state’s business community, utilities, non-profits and educational institutions, the recent successes that drew this award and those that are propelling our current record-breaking performance wouldn’t be possible.”
Kentucky previously received Silver Shovel awards in 2007 and 2011–2016.
A full review of this year’s Gold and Silver Shovel award winners will be published in the Q2/2017 issue of Area Development and posted online at www.areadevelopment.com in early June.
This year’s corporate investments in Kentucky – at nearly $5.8 billion – already topped the 2015 record of $5.1 billion.
Those investments also put Kentucky on pace this year to create the most new jobs in a decade. To date in 2017, more than 9,500 new jobs have been announced. And the numbers for both jobs and investment are increasing daily.
Kentucky’s low costs of housing, innovative workforce-training and pipeline programs, and its ideal location within 600 miles of 60 percent of the U.S. population all make it a top choice for new business locations and expansions.
Nineteen interstates and highways, major rail networks, barge traffic on the Ohio and Mississippi rivers, five commercial airports and dozens of regional airports all serve Kentucky businesses. As well, electricity costs for industrial use are nearly 20 percent lower than the national average.
Kentucky holds a leading position in air cargo capability, offering the UPS Worldport and Centennial ground hub in Louisville, DHL Americas hub and Amazon Prime Air in Northern Kentucky and several large FedEx facilities throughout the state. This strong distribution logistics presence allows products to move anywhere in the world virtually overnight.
The commonwealth’s geographic advantage as a gateway between the Midwest and South, make it an ideal location for engineering and manufacturing operations including steel and aluminum-related operations. A strong automotive, appliance and aerospace presence – including factory systems designers and integrators – provide new and expanding businesses with ready sources of raw materials, finished components, expertise and customers.
Other core and high-growth sectors include food and beverage production – which encompasses the bourbon and spirits industry – technology, healthcare research and development and chemicals and rubber production.
Information on Kentucky’s economic development efforts and programs is available at ThinkKentucky.com. Fans of the Cabinet for Economic Development can also join the discussion on Facebook or follow on Twitter. Watch the Cabinet’s “This is My Kentucky” video on YouTube.
Photo: Kentucky Adult Education Council
The Council on Postsecondary Education is pleased to announce that Reecie Stagnolia, vice president for adult education, will speak at a Congressional briefing Thursday, June 1, 10-11:30 a.m. in Washington, D.C.
Stagnolia will talk about Accelerating Opportunity Kentucky (AOKY), an integrated education and training model that provides qualified GED-seeking students with concurrent enrollment in occupational skills programs at a community and technical college. The program is a partnership between Kentucky Adult Education, the Kentucky Department of Workforce Investment/Kentucky Career Centers and the Kentucky Community and Technical College System.
“Accelerating Opportunity is a game changer since it connects our students to career pathways, builds their job readiness skills and helps boost the skills of Kentucky’s workforce,” said Stagnolia.
In a news release issued by the National Skills Coalition, the briefing will provide new research and state examples to help inform reauthorization of key education and workforce legislation, including the Perkins Career and Technical Education Act, Higher Education Act and Temporary Assistance for Needy Families.
