Agency to launch job network – Idaho Works plan will help pave road to local employment

The North Idaho Workforce Investment Board http://www.pacni.org/wibhome.htm plans to set up Idaho Works, a one-stop system designed to link employers with prospective employees.

SCOTT REEVES
Staff writer CDA Press

Few know about it, but a marketing campaign led by Smash Media of Coeur d’Alene will soon make the Idaho Works system known throughout North Idaho.

"We’re gearing up now to help sell what we can offer to businesses," said Kris Suiter, director of the North Idaho Workforce Investment Board in Hayden. "In the next three or four months, we’ll have our brochures ready and our Web site up and running."

*******************

North Idaho Workforce Investment Board

11100 Airport Drive

Hayden, ID 83835

Phone: (208) 772-0584 ext. 3017

Fax: (208) 772-6196

[email protected]

*******************

The plan for the Idaho Works One Stop system is simple: Help businesses expand and link individuals with good jobs.

The North Idaho Workforce Investment Board’s goals for this year include:

Help area employers identify needed skills and those in short supply

Develop a pool of qualified applicants to fill available jobs

Provide training programs designed to improve economic opportunities for North Idaho residents

Improve delivery of services to both employers and workers.

"It sounds like a wonderful idea and anything we can do to help people get jobs is a good thing," said Paul Anderson, chairman of Jobs Plus Board of Directors and Coeur d’Alene area manager for Avista Utilities. "It helps prospective employees and certainly helps the employers."

Jobs Plus, organized in 1987 and funded by Kootenai County, Coeur d’Alene, Post Falls, Hayden, Rathdrum and private businesses, seeks to bring new companies to the region. It has recruited about 70 companies to North Idaho, including Buck Knives, which plans to move to the region from San Diego in 2005.

The North Idaho Workforce Investment Board has 31 members, including representatives of finance, retail, natural resources, education, labor and economic development such as Hecla Mining, Idaho Independent Bank, Archies IGA and Stover Supply. The board also includes community-based organizations.

The agency is a nonprofit organization that will assist businesses and job seekers in the region set up employment and training services designed to create a skilled workforce.

The Workforce Investment Act, signed into law in August 1998, gave state and local officials the authority to establish labor market agencies using federal job training funds.

Programs created under the law are intended to support businesses and the regional economy — not just train individual workers.

The law requires coordination among a range of federal job raining programs, including the adult and dislocated worker training, employment services, adult education and literacy programs, welfare-to-work, vocational education and vocational rehabilitation.

Other sources of funding, including state work training programs and some economic development money, may be directed through area workforce investment boards.

The North Idaho Workforce Investment Board administers programs intended to link youth and adults to careers in the region. It provides specialized employment-related services to area employers.

The board now provides employment-related funding to Job Service and North Idaho College for employer, adult and dislocated worker programs. It also provides funding to Anchor House, Silver Valley Economic Development, St. Maries School District, Project CDA and TESH. In addition, it provides funds for youth programs to the West Bonner County District and Boundary County school districts.

"We serve lots of kids a year and the value is they learn how to become responsible citizens — it gives them a vehicle to learn how to transition to the work world or get them back on their feet if they’ve dropped out of school," said Lynn Gustavel, treasurer of Idaho Works and senior vice president at Idaho Independent Bank. "It also teaches them how to transition from school to private industry. There are many programs for kids and adults, including how to get a GED, dress for a job, train for a different career or interview successfully for a job. It provides work training and experience so they can put that on their resume. We provide funds to places like Anchor House — we organize the funds and get the money out to the community."

http://www.cdapress.com/index.asp?Sec=Business&str=12497