FORT WAYNE, Ind. (WOWO):  Massive goals were set by the organization Grow Allen on Tuesday.  The board chair for Grow Allen says the newly established organization will focus on addressing one of northeast Indiana’s biggest challenges: the number of adults with marketable credentials or two- or four-year degrees. The cause officially kicked off Tuesday with the goal of enhancing career path development for students entering the workforce, starting as early as pre-kindergarten.

Ron Turpin says a 2022 strategic plan for northeast Indiana found only 43% of adults in the region have a credential or degree, which negatively affects the ability to address to other key challenges: population growth and wage growth.

In an interview with Inside INdiana Business, Turpin said in order to address the issue, the first thing the region needs to do is “grow our own.”

“Before we can attract others here, we need to grow and keep what we’ve got,” he said. “So a number of us from the business community sat down to the four public school superintendents that we have in Allen County and asked the question, ‘What would it look like?’ And so really, Grow Allen came out of those conversations as a convening organization. It’s not the one doing the actual education, but it’s bringing all the partners together to really answer that big question of, “How do we…be the leader in Indiana in degree credential attainment?’

The organization aims at four key pillars: focusing on early learning but starts well before a child gets to school, focus on life skills and ensuring that students receive a continuum of education throughout K-12, new approaches to work-based learning, and advocacy for education institutions to have freedom and felixibility into achieving the desired outcomes in the future.