LVEDC Director of Talent Supply Karianne Gelinas

Each week, Karianne Gelinas, Director of Talent Supply with the Lehigh Valley Economic Development Corporation (LVEDC), will provide an update or additional information from its ongoing initiative to identify talent supply and demand issues in the region and create a strategy that results in a broader, ongoing understanding of the Lehigh Valley workforce. (See past updates.)

The Lehigh Valley boasts 17 public school districts, three career and technical centers, and nine regional and two nearby state system colleges and universities.

These educational institutions are critical to ensuring that students are prepared for the workforce and in collaborating with employers to understand regional talent needs.

Annually, the public school districts and charters graduate about 7,500 students while the 11 postsecondary institutions confer over 10,000 degrees from associates through graduate levels.

Of those degrees, almost 2,000 are awarded by the regional 2 community colleges, totaling 14 percent of all associates degrees in the state of Pennsylvania.

Click here to read more about LVEDC’s ongoing talent supply initiative. Click here to see previous talent supply initiative updates.