Rose Baker and I had our contract, Forecast of Economic, Population, and Employment Consequences of the Closing of the Willow Grove Naval Air Station Joint Reserve Base, signed. We knew we were to receive this contract in mid-December, but the accountants only recently signed the agreement. The work is due by 30 June 2007, no matter what! Here is the abstract:

The Penn State Workforce Development Initiative proposes to forecast the economic, population, and employment consequences of the closing of the Willow Grove Naval Air Station Joint Reserve Base in Montgomery County, Pennsylvania. First, a description of the status of the County economy, population, and employment will be prepared to provide context for understanding the impact of the Base closing. Second, control forecasts of the economy, population, and employment for Montgomery County will be prepared through 2015. These forecasts will describe the likely economic/demographic/employment path of Montgomery County if the basic structural features of the County remained static and natural economic and demographic growth and change ensued through 2015. Third, assessments of the economic, population, and employment impacts in Montgomery County of the closing of the Willow Grove Naval Air Station Joint Reserve Base will be made by comparing differences between control forecasts and alternative forecasts of the Montgomery County economy. The alternative forecasts will detail the path of the County, as if the Base were closed. The differences between the control and alternative forecasts are the forecasted impact of the Base closing. Knowledge/skill/ability characteristics of workers that are likely to be displaced by the Base closing will be tabulated. Specific business contacts will be identified in industries that project demand for workers in occupations displaced by the Base. To produce this information, the Workforce Development Initiative will analyze the economy and demographics of Montgomery County employing leading economic development and impact analysis models and tools.

We also wrote and submitted a 170-page proposal, Workforce and Workforce Development Gap Analysis, for a Workforce Innovation in Regional Economic Development (WIRED) Initiative project in northeast Pennsylvania. We keep our fingers and toes crossed here.

We go to a Penn State Management Development in-service seminar all day tomorrow. It is a Train-the-Trainer Boot Camp presented by the Bob Pike Group. Should be fun.

There are days on which coffee is needed. Today is such a day. Stressful. Also, really did the burn at the gym today. A fine aerobic workout. Squats, too. I am not sore specifically -- just in general.