In keeping with the underlying theme of WIRED to think creatively and act in a nontraditional manner, Maine's North Star Alliance Initiative has structured its grant support team to move beyond the traditional hierarchal structure normally found in boards and committees and projects of this type. To begin this transformational relationship within the public/private agencies and organizations of NSAI, the following “Partnership Principles” were crafted to provide overall guidance:
- Maine's North Star Alliance Initiative is industry driven, industry led.
- Maine's North Star Alliance Initiative's partners all have an equal voice.
- Maine's North Star Alliance Initiative's partners will be treated respectfully and professionally and be shown due courtesy.
- Maine's North Star Alliance Initiative's partners will make every attempt to resolve conflicts where they occur and accordingly be responsible for their actions.
- Maine's North Star Alliance Initiative's partners will be encouraged to actively participate in all Initiative activities by bringing forth pertinent and creative thought while demonstrating a “universal” and open approach to new information, and by a demonstration of positive support of the Initiative, both within the partnership structure and to the State of Maine as a whole.
The governor's office is the recipient of the WIRED project and provides the overall vision to NSAI serving as the highest level of public relations and visibility to the NSAI. The link between this office and the concurrently running activities related to the Brunswick Naval Air Station closing is provided by the governor's liaison who also maintains communications with the governor's advisory board. The relationship of these three bodies is established through common membership that crosses each entity and several related functions.
Maine's North Star Alliance management team currently consists of a program manager. Earlier in the grant a deputy program manager provided technical support on a 60% basis while also working within the State's Planning Office. Later this position was restructured into a program coordinator which was staffed until the end of the grant's third year. The program manager reports up to the governor's liaison and engages in two way communications and responsibility sharing with the Executive Committee.
The NSAI grant was originally administered by a 30 person Steering Committee. For the sake of efficiency and in order to engage individuals within activities that best utilized their expertise and interests, this committee was restructured into a streamlined Executive Committee with representation from the governor's office and the three state agencies of education, labor, and economic and community development, the four pillars, the industry associations representing the private sector, regional workforce boards, as well as the university and the community college system. The remaining original Steering Committee members were encouraged to actively participate in one or more of the four pillars in which the actual day-to-day work of the grant is crafted and carried out.
It is within the Executive Committee that pillar activity is monitored for compliance with NSAI and USDOL goals and strategies. Though the NSAI program manager plans and facilitates committee meetings, the structure is flat with all members having equal voice and input. Decision making is reached on a consensus basis. The committee meets quarterly and utilizes electronic transmission of periodic highlight reports, collaboration exercised within each of the individual pillars as well as both the USDOL shared and the NSAI website as methods of communication.
