Harry Snyder
Ohio Skills Bank Region 5 Coordinator
Great Oaks Technical District
Cincinnati, Ohio
As one of 12 regional coordinators for the Ohio Skills Bank (OSB) initiative, Harry Snyder uses EMSI’s labor market information to help target and further opportunities for the workforce in a four-county area of southwestern Ohio. The OSB seeks to bring together the state’s employers and workforce education providers by assessing the in-demand skills that companies need and determining how effectively educational institutions are producing graduates with those qualifications. For Snyder, a major focus has been establishing and expanding healthcare careers pathway by showing the need for more workers in the healthcare sector in the Cincinnati area, as well as providing entry-level workers a pathway to earn higher wages through certificate programs. He meets with major hospitals and regional colleges/universities and career centers to make sure they’re on the same page when it comes to training programs. “I use this data in front of them and help them understand as they interpret the data what direction we as a region should go as we expand career pathways in the area,” Snyder says. He also provides EMSI’s labor market data to grant writing teams. One team recently captured a national fund grant that has provided the infrastructure to carry forth the regional career pathway initiative.