St. John’s economy is mostly tourism-based. The hurricanes shut down the two main resorts on the island, which resulted in many layoffs and significantly hurt other service-based businesses that rely on the guests the resorts attract. A resilient workforce should be more diverse and not rely primarily on one industry.

An ongoing influx of new jobs supporting recovery and redevelopment efforts highlights one of the areas of potential for workforce development: construction and trades. St. John also has a strong artist community that can contribute to a resilient workforce. Resilience necessitates new ways of thinking (e.g., new ways of putting risks and assets together for planning), and new ways of doing (e.g., new ways of working together to problem-solve). Many of the projects in this plan include a workforce development component. This project can be considered in a two pronged approach: diversifying the economic drivers of the economy as well as strengthening and diversifying skills of the workforce.

IMPLEMENTATION STEPS: 1. Identify strategies to interconnect tourism with other industries such as agriculture, green energy, aquaculture and environmental conservation. 2. Determine the feasibility of increasing local agricultural products and lowering dependency on imported foods 3. Identify and evaluate fields in which to focus workforce development, including construction and trades; arts and craftsmanship; renewable energy and energy conservation. etc. 4. Develop training programs through the development of a technical and vocational school.

Key Players: Dept. of Labor; Dept. of Education; Love City Strong; St.JanCo Alignment: Econ, CPCB RSFs, USDA Cost: > $500,000 Timeline: < One - Three Years