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Cleveland has made strides in terms of its image during the last few years, but an emerging strategic plan from the local chamber of commerce reinforces that hiring remains a struggle in the region.

(Lisa DeJong/The Plain Dealer)

CLEVELAND, Ohio - Major employers should speak more clearly - and have more clout - when it comes to how Greater Cleveland tackles the problem of workers who aren't equipped for the jobs we're creating. And existing training programs simply aren't doing enough to curb companies' concerns about hiring.

That's a key message in the new strategic plan being crafted by the Greater Cleveland Partnership, the regional chamber of commerce that represents 8,500 members and lobbies on behalf of the business community. The outlines of the plan, meant to guide GCP's efforts from 2018 through 2020, will be announced during the organization's annual meeting tonight at the Hilton Cleveland Downtown.

The new strategy, which won't be fleshed out until the fall, is GCP's first wholesale update to its priority list in six years. The chamber's last plan covered 2012 to 2015, when the city was recovering from the Great Recession and image-burnishing events including a starring turn as the host of the Republican National Convention and an NBA championship win were still a dream.

Now the corporate community's to-do-list - and its wish list - have changed a bit.

The lakefront, viewed as a prime development opportunity a few years ago, still gets top billing. But the future of NASA Glenn Research Center feels much more solid than it did in 2011.

A campaign to keep a major airline hub here didn't pan out, but Cleveland Hopkins International Airport has experienced an influx of low-cost carriers since United Airlines drastically reduced its presence here in 2014.

Though GCP still cares about convenient air travel for its members, the organization is paying more attention to cash-strapped public transit and the hurdles of linking workers - some of them carless - in the city to jobs that aren't easily accessible by bus or train.

And worries about the mismatch between jobs and skills, or talent, have only grown.

"There's not a business out there that's not affected by where our workforce is going to come from in the future," said Rick Chiricosta, chairman of GCP's 70-member board of directors and chairman, president and chief executive officer of Medical Mutual of Ohio, a health insurer based in downtown Cleveland. "There's a lot of things happening around town in that regard ... and we can't have people creating a workforce that doesn't meet what we're going to need."

On top of shaping education and training for people who already are here, the chamber wants to be part of a push to rebuild the population - including work with Global Cleveland, a nonprofit group focused on newcomers including migrants, immigrants and refugees. And the corporate community wants to make it easier for people, and businesses, to stay here, building a stronger framework for entrepreneurs to start, grow and maintain companies in Cleveland.

At this point, the goals are broad. And it's unclear how, exactly, GCP will achieve them. Chiricosta said the board will form four task forces - dedicated to place, talent, connectivity and the business environment - to hash out the details and rank priorities over the coming months.

Joe Roman, GCP's president and chief executive, described the organization's emerging plan as part of a broader regional strategy for economic growth. "We're not trying to argue that it is the right plan for the entire region ... but it's one that our members are very, very involved in and engaged in," he said.

GCP's annual meeting, a paid event that typically attracts a crowd of more than 1,000 business and community leaders, starts at 4:30 p.m. The keynote speaker is Susan Goldberg, a former editor of The Plain Dealer who is now editorial director of National Geographic Partners and editor in chief of National Geographic Magazine.