2. Dream It. Do It. A Partnership between NJBIA and MNJ Why Do It? What Is It? Next Steps?

3. Dream It. Do It. Why Do It? More than 70% of the survey respondents agreed or strongly agreed that it was difficult to fill positions with workers who have the skills that the job requires. Nearly three-quarters (74%) report that these skills gaps make it difficult to maintain production levels consistent with customer demand. A majority of participating manufacturers (51%) state that the shortage of workers with the necessary skills has already led to slower delivery of their product to market.

4. Dream It. Do It. What is It? 1.What is the Dream It. Do It. network? 2. Who is the Manufacturing Institute? 3. Who are the target markets?

5. Dream It. Do It. What is the Dream It. Do It. Network? Launched in 2005 by the Manufacturing Institute, the Dream It. Do It. program was created to change the public perception of manufacturing. Today, there are 25 programs across the country working as a united voice to recruit students into manufacturing while providing knowledge about the industry to parents, teachers, and counselors. DIDI’s network's leaders are a diverse group of executives made up of educators, workforce organizations, community college systems, manufacturing extension programs, manufacturing associations, industry and business groups, local and state government, and manufacturers.

6. Dream It. Do It. Who is the Manufacturing Institute? The Manufacturing Institute is a Washington, DC-based organization dedicated to improving and expanding the manufacturing industry in the United States. The Institute is affiliated with the National Association of Manufacturers (NAM) and MI’s strong relationship with the NAM provides added infrastructure, offers increased national and local visibility, and enhanced credibility, clout, and convening power. As a Dream It. Do It. partner, we have access to the Institute's expertise on our nation's industry, including research, career pathways, and other tools.

7. Dream It. Do It. Who are the target markets? Dream It. Do It. is meant to promote manufacturing to three distinct target markets: students, parents and educators. The Manufacturing Institute has successfully produced resources and collateral focused on engaging those markets and their network has created a broad range of tools and materials to help simplify that process for new state partners. The Manufacturing Institute will assess with us exactly the populations we want to target and impact and advise on the best messages to impact our targeted audience.

8. Dream It. Do It. What are the Next Steps? We are scheduling an onboarding session, in early March, with the Manufacturing Institute staff. And our stakeholders. During this session, we will create a strategic plan that will result in programmatic success using many of the existing assets available in our region. The Institute has created a quick start guide and other materials and resources in a complete onboarding toolkit. Many other states have found these resources useful and they exist to help your program get successfully off the ground and begin operations. We are in the process of identifying all stakeholders including: manufacturers, educators, industry associations, LWD that will participate in the onboarding session.