Shelley Huffman, the Indiana Chamber’s director of college and career readiness, has been named a graduate of the Fellowship for Education Attainment, an initiative of the Alexandria, Va.-based Association of Chamber of Commerce Executives (ACCE).
Huffman is one of only 20 chamber of commerce professionals nationwide to receive this honor in 2017.
The Fellowship for Education Attainment is an immersive executive development program that provides chamber of commerce professionals with education and tools to improve the birth-to-career education pipeline in the communities they serve.
“Getting children off on the right educational footing can play a defining role in their education career, so having Hoosier students receive the proper education from beginning to end is vital,” explains Indiana Chamber President Kevin Brinegar. “Having a meaningful career path improves quality of life for employees and a more qualified talent pool is also a win for employers. “
Throughout the year-long fellowship program, participants are required to develop a regional action plan that focuses on addressing specific education attainment or workforce development issues in their communities.
Titled “Developing Indiana Talent for a 21st Century Workforce”, Huffman’s plan centers on helping Indiana K-12 school representatives rethink the way they organize and deliver school counseling services. The end goal is building sustainable programs to improve education attainment that involve the local community, employers, postsecondary institutions, community foundations, as well as youth and human service organizations.
Huffman’s work was guided by Indiana Vision 2025, the Indiana Chamber’s long-range economic development action plan and its Outstanding Talent driver and goal to increase to 60% the proportion of Indiana residents with high quality postsecondary credentials.
“The shared learning with ACCE Fellows was energizing and provided significant opportunities to bring best practices, innovative programming and resources to my work in Indiana,” Huffman says.
Adds ACCE President Mick Fleming, “We are all thrilled with the level of expertise and depth of engagement among our fellows. These chamber executives have set the bar high for their peers and helped us build a powerful body of knowledge.”
ACCE’s Fellowship for Education Attainment is designed to advance a chamber of commerce’s already-defined education attainment goals and ultimately help the business associations nationwide build replicable programs and processes.
In addition to Indianapolis, graduating fellows represent communities including Dallas; Huntsville, Alabama; Las Vegas; Nashville, Tennessee; Philadelphia; Raleigh, North Carolina; and Springfield, Ohio.
For more information about ACCE’s Education Attainment Division, visit www.ACCE.org/EAD.