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EDPA PROGRAMS & SERVICES

Talent Attraction & Retention

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FuelAL HBCU Innovation Internship

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Building Alabama’s Workforce for Tomorrow

Alabama’s talent attraction and retention is at the heart of our economic success. At EDPA, we are committed to fostering a robust pipeline of skilled professionals through initiatives like FuelAL and Alabama Talent Solutions.

About

FuelAL

Empowering Alabama’s Future Workforce

FuelAL, a statewide talent retention and attraction initiative, provides Alabama’s best & brightest interns with access to peers & community leaders, training & exposure to all that Alabama has to offer – even beyond the 9-to-5. FuelAL features:

  • Community grants/programming

  • Targeted statewide industry summits

  • Mentorship 

  • School-year student programming

  • And now—the newly rebranded FuelAL HBCU Innovation Internship

FuelAL Impact
From a 2022 pilot with 17 students to over 1,250 participants across 10 communities.

FuelAL Host Communities: Auburn, Birmingham, Baldwin County, Calhoun County, Dothan, Huntsville, Mobile, Montgomery, Opelika and Tuscaloosa.

To learn more about unique programming within communities, please see FuelAL Host City contact information below:

Auburn + Opelika: Jonathan Woodard and Trevor Cook

Birmingham: Trevor Sutton

Calhoun County: Linda Hearn, Laurel Harp and Savannah Dempsey

Dothan: Jessica Steltenpohl

Huntsville: Annie Davis

Mobile: Abbey Huguley

River Region: Kenneth (Kenny) Ward

Tuscaloosa: Barkley Garrett

About

Alabama Talent Solutions: Your Gateway to Opportunity

Alabama Talent Solutions (ATS), formerly ALEX: The Alabama Experience, connects job seekers with Alabama’s leading employers, providing career resources and matching high-demand roles to top talent. It is a mobile exhibit, featuring a collection of interactive kiosks and informational pieces, as well as a knowledgeable staff who walks visitors through every aspect of life in Alabama. An immersive, first-hand experience, ATS is the personification of Alabama through technology, powered by Atlas RFID Solutions, and it offers visitors an inside look at careers, educational opportunities and unique lifestyle available within the state. ATS is not a job fair, but it offers individuals the ability to travel through a virtual reality experience to encounter the amenities and advantages of life in Alabama – from work to play, to costs of living.

Where EDPA Will Play a Role

Research

EDPA’s partnerships allow for a broad and deep research approach learning about students and graduates in a qualitative and quantitative manner. Moving forward, our research efforts will expand to include other demographics, employers and communities. By looking at all three stakeholders, we can identify the state’s talent supply and demand – and address shortfalls in specific, targeted ways.

Convening

EDPA is one of few organizations with relationships with the three major talent-related groups: employers, universities, and economic developers. As a statewide organization, we can convene them to learn from each other’s success, failures, and best practices, as well as from national or international examples of talent attraction and retention.
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Communications

The data has shown that cities should be the focus, not the state; students are eager to learn more about job opportunities; and different communities offer different value propositions.

EDPA will work with individual communities to establish and communicate a brand that emphasizes their unique assets directly to the talent they need.

Targeted Student Programming

EDPA will continue to learn directly from and communicate with students. Our FuelAL summer fellowship program offers exposure for sophomores and juniors interning at Alabama’s best companies to the rich history, culture, and opportunities across the state.