Sioux Falls workforce efforts multiply with goals for 5-year plan well exceeded

In the Sioux Falls area, meeting workforce needs is a community effort – supported through Forward Sioux Falls with a new campaign every five years and executed by the Sioux Falls Development Foundation.

As one five-year campaign closes and another begins, the growth in workforce-related programs has been huge – with 14 established in 2020 that have expanded fast.

“They’re meeting the needs not only of our employers today, but also are expanding and are able to ebb and flow as everyone’s needs ebb and flow,” said Denise Guzzetta, vice president of talent and workforce development for the Sioux Falls Development Foundation.

The goal was to work with 200 employers annually, but that actually has reached 277 as of last year and multiplies its effect many times over.

“It’s how many people they’re contacting about jobs, about internships, about the apprenticeships they have,” Guzzetta said. “You’re looking at close to 75,000 people over the course of a five-year campaign, which is 150 percent of the commitment we made back in 2020.”

That leads directly to young professionals taking on internships, job shadows and apprenticeships.

“We’ve grown that metric by close to 400 percent over what we intended to do back in 2020,” Guzzetta said. “No. 1, we know that if we can get your business connected to a person through an engagement program, the likelihood of you hiring them is great, and the likelihood of them being a good fit is even better.”

Take a closer look at the initiative’s workforce success here: