When we talk about workforce development, it's easy to focus on the jobs employers need to fill today.

But what about the workforce we'll need five, 10 or 20 years from now?

That's the focus of Forward Janesville's latest Forward Thinking column, published in The Janesville Gazette.

READ THE FULL COLUMN IN THE GAZETTE HERE

Nearly 18,800 workers in Rock County are approaching retirement, birth rates have declined and employers continue to identify workforce as one of the region's most pressing challenges. Those realities make the connection between strong schools and a strong economy increasingly important.

As we write in the column:

"The students sitting in Janesville classrooms today aren't just our future workforce. They're one of our community's most important economic development assets."

That belief is at the heart of Keep Kids Learning, Forward Janesville's initiative connecting education, workforce development and economic growth.

The column explores the growing partnership between Forward Janesville and the School District of Janesville, including the Education Council, Craftsman With Character, the Janesville Business Academy, work-based learning and investments through the Forward Foundation.

It also highlights encouraging progress within the district and the Wisconsin Policy Forum's School District of Janesville DataTool, which gives community members another resource to better understand both the district's progress and its challenges.

And as Janesville begins another important conversation about education and school funding this fall, the column makes the case for looking at that discussion through a broader lens: What will it take to build the workforce and community we want for the future?

Local employers have an important role in helping answer that question, too. Forward Janesville is currently seeking input through our Building Janesville's Workforce of the Future Employer Survey, which will help inform future workforce development strategies and initiatives.

TAKE THE WORKFORCE OF THE FUTURE SURVEY HERE

Workforce development is a community challenge requiring a community response — and there's no better place to start than with the students who will become our workforce of the future.