Kentucky’s SWATT team connects the state’s skilled workforce with companies in search of new talent.
Versatility is a skill Kentuckians know best. When leveraging this strength, statewide economic success is often a clear outcome.
Upon landing new-location and expansion projects at a record rate in recent years, Kentucky leadership took note of the seamless level of collaboration enacted by its educational institutions, economic development partners and workforce throughout the recruitment process.
That experience highlighted the effectiveness of a system where partners align early to contribute to a shared goal. In reflecting how the state could address challenges employers face when navigating the workforce system, the Statewide Workforce and Talent Team (SWATT) emerged.
SWATT’s strategy is simple — deliver swift workforce responses for new and existing employers through improved coordination. This legwork enables the team to aid employers in locating ideal workforce resources available from the state down to the local level; build targeted strategies to attract and retain skilled workers; and connect businesses to aligned providers that support their unique needs.
Data analysis found that Kentucky’s investment into workforce programs — totaling over $1.2 billion each year — was utilized by only 3% of employers in the state. This disconnect was caused by a variety of factors, including not knowing how to get started or an influx of duplicate outreach from individual service partners. Since 2023, SWATT set out to remove any confusion on how to get operations prepared in Kentucky.
“Most employers are looking for access to skilled talent pools aligned to their specific business needs, delivered through a coordinated effort and on their timelines,” says Kentucky Education and Labor Cabinet (ELC) Department of Workforce Development Commissioner Michael Yoder. “They want clarity on who to work with, confidence that partners are aligned, and solutions that reflect how their business actually operates.”
He says employers don’t care whether their workforce spans multiple campuses, counties or regions; they simply want an organized system that works across boundaries rather than sorting through disconnected programs.
Employers have noted increased alignment and commitment from the state’s workforce partners to continue breaking down silos, which Yoder says is encouraging, but the next step is to quantify those improvements. To calculate the success of this customizable approach, the team is identifying shared Key Performance Indicators and aiming to better coordinate data across regions to consistently measure SWATT’s progress.
“This level of collaboration is beginning to change how partners engage with one another on workforce demands, even outside of the intended activities within SWATT,” says Yoder. “Agencies and education partners are coordinating earlier, sharing information more consistently, and approaching employer needs with a greater sense of shared responsibility.”
Kentucky employers ranging from as few as five employees to the largest companies in the state have taken advantage of SWATT. The common denominator here isn’t size, but rather the need for coordinated workforce support. Industries with ongoing hiring needs — manufacturing, automotive, health care, logistics and more — tend to see the highest program engagement. In one example, SWATT was enlisted to aid an auto parts supplier who was facing recruitment and retention challenges in Central Kentucky.
“Through SWATT, Leadership from the Cabinet for Economic Development [CED] and ELC met directly with the company, identified workforce needs and engaged the right partners to deliver solutions on the company’s timeline,” says Yoder. “Resources from CED, ELC, the local technical college campus and local workforce area were brought to the table by a Workforce Talent Project Manager from ELC so the company had a coordinated framework and partners could be engaged at the appropriate time.”
The addition of Workforce Talent Project Managers provided a dedicated link to help employers hire, develop and retain skilled talent. The concierge-level service begins as early as a company’s initial site selection process, expediting the identification of optimal programs, talent and partnerships in the region that align with future operational demands, while strengthening the state’s relationship with employers from day zero.
To date, 16 employers have participated in SWATT, resulting in over 1,100 residents securing high-quality jobs, receiving hands-on training and landing new work-based learning opportunities. SWATT currently has 12 pilot programs in place, which are working in established ecosystems to introduce a coordinated process that delivers consistent feedback loops and ensures regional partners are scaling best practices.
A Welcome Change
Yoder says that despite an increase in Worker Adjustment and Retraining Notifications (WARNs), SWATT is changing how the state supports a company and its affected employees as they face a closure.
When Kentucky-based Paragon Metal Fabricators saw Hammer Strength submit a WARN for its manufacturing facility in Falmouth, the company decided to pursue a second location in the state. Kentucky CED Department for Business & Community Development Commissioner Kristina Slattery notes that the family owned company had been evaluating its footprint in Kentucky, but knew that the ability to have a qualified workforce to support an expansion would be critical. Working alongside Hammer Strength, state and local officials helped the company build a marketing profile that pinpointed occupational opportunities, highlighted insight from company leadership pertaining to workforce quality and presented additional building and site information for prospective employers.
“It really was the available workforce that drove this opportunity for Paragon,” Slattery says. “When they had a chance to see the facility, meet some of the impacted employees and talk with local community leaders, I think they knew they had found the right fit.”
The community expects to recoup 40 of the 100 lost jobs thanks to Paragon’s $6 million facility investment. Experienced workforce from Hammer Strength can transition directly into new manufacturing roles as Paragon Metals looks to increase metal fabrication production to meet demands across oil and gas, heavy equipment, appliance and filtration markets.
In December 2025, a WARN notice was received for the BlueOval SK Battery Park, as Ford Motor Company and SK On announced the restructuring of their joint venture in Glendale. The notice revealed that over 1,500 jobs would be lost as Ford moves to transition the site from EV battery production toward manufacturing batteries for energy storage systems, citing a changing market demand for EVs. Ford plans to invest $2 billion to retool the facility, which is expected to reopen by 2027 and create 2,100 new jobs.
State and local partners have been working alongside Ford, local economic development leaders and the state’s technical college system to develop a new direction for the community in the meantime. This collaboration resulted in one of the largest job fairs Kentucky has ever had, as more than 60 employers showed up looking to obtain skilled talent. Over 675 people participated in the rapid response event with a keen idea of which employer they were looking for, thanks to a resource list put together by these partners.
“It has a lasting impact on the community if we don’t do something more extensive than unemployment insurance,” says Yoder. “So, it’s been really cool to see how each partner has come to the table. We’ve met almost every day to pull this off.”
Slattery says that the over 60 employers that came out represent a small subset of the employers within a 45-mile radius that SWATT has contacted throughout this process. SWATT came about, in part, as a result of the initial BlueOval SK investment, and, the job fair itself was a great illustration of what SWATT can accomplish quickly, as companies experienced a new direct line of communication to access a prolific talent pool.
With about 12,000 employees, Ford is one of the many companies that have found quality workers in Kentucky.
Photo courtesy of Ford Motor Company
Slattery and Yoder emphasize WARNs are an unfortunate natural reality, albeit developing this approach continues to demonstrate the versatility of Kentucky’s leadership, talent, educational institutions and workforce partners in the face of adversity.
“Kentucky has seen many and survived many of these transitions already,” Slattery says. “From agrarian type production into manufacturing, to coal mining and related industries into other types of production, I think we’ve proved that we can make those types of adjustments.”
