Searching for workforce development solutions, from Savannah to Atlanta and beyond

When Hyundai Motor Group announced in 2022 it was opening an electric vehicle and battery production plant in Bryan County near Savannah, the news was cause for celebration throughout Georgia. The $5.5 billion facility marked the largest economic development project ever in the Peach State, and was expected to ultimately churn out 300,000 units per year.

But it also provided a wake-up call. In the wake of the announcement, economic development leaders in the Savannah area commissioned a workforce study to see if the region could fill all the jobs that were coming. The results were stark: the region would be 1,500 workers short of meeting the demands of the Hyundai plant by 2025, a trend that would continue through 2031 if no action was taken.

That same study, though, also offered a road map out of the problem—and the result was RISE Savannah, the acronym short for Regional Industry Support Enterprise, which works in eight southeast Georgia counties to bolster workforce numbers through initiatives which can target students as young as eighth grade. “We started work on Jan. 2, 2024, and we’ve been off to the races ever since,” said Anna Chafin, the organization’s president and CEO.

RISE Savannah is one of several groups attacking the workforce deficit in Georgia, which is particularly acute in engineering and its related fields. With the Peach State continuing to attract record levels of investment, the need has never been greater for the engineers, architects, surveyors, construction personnel and other affiliated professionals who will design and build not just the factories those investments are funding, but also the roads, schools and communities to support them.

“We have constant job postings out there, and it’s very hard to get candidates,” said Angela Snyder, president of Practical Design Partners. “The hiring part is difficult, because while there are a lot people moving around in the industry, there isn’t a lot of new blood. So we’re having to go out of state. We’re having to look at H1-B candidates, which has become more difficult. We’re not turning down work yet that I’ve seen, but we’re all looking at, how do we find the resources? Other companies are utilizing offices out of state to complete work, because they don’t have the capacity here.”

Snyder is among those working on a solution through her position as chair of the K-12 committee of the STEM Workforce Task Force set up by ACEC Georgia. There are no easy answers—attacking the workforce gap entails promoting engineering and related fields to middle school, high school and college students at countless expos and career fairs throughout the state. In some cases, success comes down to the right one-on-one interaction at the right time. But the effort is being made, on the part of many organizations—RISE Savannah, ACEC Georgia, and GDOT among them.

Low-hanging fruit

The event at Georgia Southern University’s’ Armstrong campus featured 24 employers, the engineering firm Thomas and Hutton among them, all offering hands-on exhibits to help attendees better connect with career opportunities in the region. Organized by RISE Savannah, it drew over 1,000 students—who weren’t in high school or technical college, but the first semester of eighth grade.

“If you wait until a student is getting ready to graduate, and the only time you’re interacting with them as a company is at a career fair,” said Justin Farquhar, vice president at RISE Savannah, “then you’re kind of missing the boat in terms of building a rapport and building a relationship on campus.”

The first semester of eighth grade, by contrast, is when students are forming their pathways for high school, and exposing them to fields like engineering, logistics and mechatronics at that age puts those career options top of mind at a critical stage in their development. “We are firm believers that the earlier we can reach students about career exploration, the better,” Chafin said.

RISE Savannah also works with the military—Savannah is home to Fort Stewart and Hunter Army Air Field, and more than 3,500 people exit the service locally each year—as well as underrepresented and overlooked populations. But as is the case with so many other groups working to close the workforce development gap in Georgia, offering initiatives in K-12 education is key. RISE hosts job fairs, industry signing days, keynote speaker engagements and other events to develop early career awareness among students all the way down to elementary school.

“I feel like education is really where we need to be investing most of our time, because that’s our future workforce, and it’s the low-hanging fruit,” Chafin said. “Those students are already here. We just need to do a better job of making them aware of the regional career opportunities, and keep them here to work and raise their families one day.”

RISE Savannah hosted an event at Savannah Technical College in 2025 called RISE FWD that attracted 200 high school seniors, a number expected to jump to 600 for the 2026 edition. It studies best practices from other cities like Bowling Green, Ky., which Chafin said has a high level of collaboration between its K-12 schools and business and industry communities. It has a program dedicated to helping employers set up apprenticeships, and find the resources to fund them.

“We’re working to identify ways to create connections with post-secondary students and our regional industries outside of a traditional career fair,” Farquhar said.

It’s too early to judge RISE’s effectiveness, given the organization has been around for just two years. But it has some runway, given that Hyundai has until 2031 to meet its headcount requirement. “Ultimately, what we’re trying to do it mitigate those deficits that were projected,” Chafin said, “and make sure our industrial employers say, ‘We have the talent that we need.’”

From K-12 to USG

Concerns over the workforce gap in engineering and related fields are not recent in Georgia—the STEM Workforce Task Force at ACEC Georgia was created in 2016, under the leadership of then-incoming board chair John Heath with Heath and Lineback Engineers. The undertaking proved so large, that two years later the task force was divided into three subcommittees: K-12 outreach, technical college curriculum, and University System outreach.

“We’ve seen a lot of good things come out of the relationships we’ve made,” said Cecilia Arango, principal and marketing director at Thomas and Hutton, who currently chairs the University System outreach committee. “This is kind of a pipeline for future jobs. We’re building these relationships to help students understand, hands-on out in the field, what the job is like that they’d be doing.”

Arango’s committee is focused on building relationships with engineering schools within the University System of Georgia, encouraging them to consider careers in engineering and its related fields. The technical college curriculum committee, chaired by Abigail Burks of Athena Engineering, works with the Technical College System of Georgia to create a set of degrees, certificates and apprenticeships designed to fill the roles in the built environment that don’t require a four-year degree.

The K-12 committee, chaired by Snyder, exposes students to potential careers in engineering largely by connecting STEM professionals with educators in K-12 school systems across Georgia. Charlotte Weber of Lumenor Consulting Group chairs the overall task force, which also includes a division focused on workforce outreach which aims to attract both students and professionals into the field.

“Almost every agency and nonprofit advocacy group you talk to has a workforce program. So we’re all working toward solving the same kind of problem,” Weber said. “My goal is to pull as many people together to understand what we’re doing, so we’re all marching in the same direction and not stepping on each other‘s toes, and combining resources when we can.”

As with other workforce initiatives, the K-12 aspect is critical. Snyder’s committee takes on initiates like STEM Day and Introduce a Girl to Engineering Day, while also speaking in schools and volunteering for toothpick bridge and future city competitions. But it also involves raising awareness of what an engineer is, encouraging students who show aptitude for the field, even building cool and eye-catching exhibits for career fairs like a twisty 3-D printed Matchbox car track to explain concepts like elevation and friction.

“We’re talking to these kids, and it will be 10 to 15 years, potentially, before we know if we’re making an impact,” Snyder said. “Yes, we’re making a connection, and we see the spark and excitement. But we don’t really see exactly what happens to that student in that moment. I do think there’s hope, because STEM has become such a big part of school systems. I think there is a strategy and a potential solution. It just takes many years to see the fruits of it.”

It’s a wide-ranging approach—but at times, a personal connection can make all the difference. Weber knows that firsthand; she was at ACEG Georgia’s Transportation Summit when she by chance met a college student graduating that following spring who was interested in intelligent transportation systems. She introduced him to people at various companies, and went on her way. Weber ran into him again in March, at Introduce a Girl to Engineering Day. He worked for the infrastructure design firm HNTB.

“He said, ‘You introduced me to the right people, and that’s why I have a job,’ Those are the little nuggets that I love,” Weber said.

The next generation

Finding workforce solutions is critical at GDOT, and not just because it directly supports the agency’s ability to deliver safe, efficient and sustainable transportation systems across the state. Like many other state agencies, GODT is facing a significant wave of retirements, with up to 32 percent of its workforce becoming eligible to retire over the next five years.

“This anticipated loss of institutional knowledge and experience makes it essential to proactively develop and prepare the next generation of talent,” said Kelly Johnson, strategic workforce director at GDOT. “As experienced employees retire or transition out of the workforce, GDOT must be prepared with qualified internal talent ready to step into critical roles, minimizing disruption to operations.”

GDOT offers a variety of programs designed to help close the workforce gap, running the gamut from raising awareness in middle and high schools to encouraging continued education among current employees. Engineers at GDOT, for example, are supported in obtaining their EIT and PE credentials. “Investing in workforce development improves employee engagement and retention,” Johnson said. “When employees have access to training, certifications and career advancement opportunities, they are more likely to stay with the organization and grow within it.”

GDOT offers an internship program targeted toward graduate and undergraduate students, with the goal of developing talent and converting it into employees—particularly in hard-to-fill roles in civil engineering and construction management. It conducts outreach at K-12 schools to foster a long-term interest in transportation careers, and recruits at colleges and universities through career fairs, information sessions and student organization sponsorships.

“Early outreach and partnerships help build a diverse and future-ready workforce,” Johnson said. “By engaging students at various stages, GDOT increases awareness of transportation careers and creates opportunities to attract individuals with a wide range of perspectives and skills. Overall, workforce development enables GDOT to remain competitive, resilient and effective in fulfilling its mission to serve the public.”

GDOT’s summer internship program has brought in an average of 120 interns over the past two years, Johnson added. The agency partners to hold a STEM/STEAM camp at the Georgia Transportation Management Center, and a heavy equipment operator program at Washington County High School. It offers ample training opportunities for foremen, area managers, constriction engineer inspectors, worksite erosion control supervisors, employees working on projects requiring soil and water conservation certification, and more.

“Long-term success includes building a more diverse and representative workforce and increasing awareness of transportation careers among students at all levels,” Johnson said, “ensuring a sustainable pipeline of talent for the future.”