Submitted by Ken Cordrey
Modoc Employment Center
221 N. Main Street, Alturas, CA 96101
(530) 233-4161
www.aworkforce.org
Business Services - Pathways to Success
New HR Consultants Join the Team
Three new HR Consultants joined AFWD in April, with one based at each center of activity for Plumas, Lassen and Modoc counties.
Leslie Solbeg is based at Quincy, Holly Schirmer at Susanville and Ken Cordrey at Alturas. Together, they bring work experience in retail management, production management and HR to augment extensive skills and experience already present within AFWD.
Goals for this group include assisting the AFWD Team to remain in the forefront of activity and leadership in Business Services. This is to be accomplished using a variety of Workshops to enhance local business awareness and knowledge of relevant issues while dealing directly with these businesses to improve and strengthen long-term working relationships.
Modoc Employment Center Update
April through June- During the second quarter of 2004, we had considerable activity in the office, with job seekers, businesses and ourComputer Lab.
Job Seekers totaled 274, with 739 visits for average of 2.7 visits per Job Seeker.
Inquiries by 72 local Businesses totaled 141 visits.
In all, we had 1,242 visits by 446 people for an average of 2.78 visits per person.
To date, 155 employees have attended orientation, of that 133 have completed structured interviews. Eighty dislocated workers have been enrolled in WIA. Of that 80, 61 have secured employment. Thirty-seven of the 61 have relocated for employment opportunities and 12 are in job search.
Modoc Employment Center Job Fair
We had a busy and successful Job Fair on April 24, hosting 14 employers with booths and 12 other companies placing materials for Job Seeker information. The Fair was held from 11 am until 2 pm at the Modoc Employment Center and attracted 142 Job Seekers.
A wide variety of jobs were offered, including sales, cashier, prison related positions, hostesses, roofers, carpenters, fire crews truck drivers, cooks, customer service positions, bus drivers and clerical positions.
Warner Creek Prison
Construction has begun on the Warner Creek Prison facility. Footings are being poured and earth is being moved. Building exteriors should be completed by October and overall facility completion is currently projected for July, 2005.
This facility is to be a minimum security prison housing up to 100 inmates and is expected to employ 132 people. Annual payroll should be about $7 million.
Sherm Radtke, Community Development Coordinator for Warner Creek, attended the Modoc Job Fair in April, answering questions and accepting applications for employment at the facility.
Economic Vitality Meetings
Economic Vitality Meetings for Modoc County are held each month in the AFWD offices. It provides an excellent way medium in which interested parties can become and remain current with local activities. Usually, attendees include those from Cedarville, Likely, Alturas, Bieber and Adin.
Last year, Pacific Power provided a $5,000 grant to complete and maintain a website for the Alturas Chamber of Commerce. Kelly Poindexter, previously Community Coordinator for AFWD and now Business Support Specialist for Microenterprise Program Development, assisted to keep momentum going to complete this website. Results are unanimously declared as excellent.
The website looks good, is easy to navigate and includes links to local lodging and dining, AFWD, Economic Development Corp, SCEDD and other sites of interest within the area.
At the March Economic Vitality Meeting, held in the AFWD offices, it was agreed that up to $1,500 of the grant from Pacific Power should be used to assist the Surprise Valley Chamber of Commerce in Cedarville in developing their website.
This website provides all concerned with a great way to tout the advantages and pleasures of living in and visiting Modoc County.
Microenterprise Development Program
(Aritcle Provided by Kelley Poindexter)
The new Microenterprise Development Program is off and running in Modoc County. Chester Robertson and Kelly Poindexter make up the training and outreach team with support services from AFWD's Joseph Kowalski. The new program has encountered great interest with 22 folks attending the first informational workshop entitled "Exploring Self-Employment". Chester has 6 active participants enrolled in the first round of 12 week classes. Along with the classes, Chester offers one-on-one business support sessions as well as access to numerous business development resources. In addition, the Microenterprise Development team has been successful in assisting one new Modoc County business secure a "business start-up loan" through Modoc Economic Development Corporation.
Collaborative relationships with California Department of Rehabilitation and CalWorks have provided mutual clients with a broader range of services and support. AFWD and MDP are benefiting from the one stop relationship, referring business folks to one another to further business service efforts in Modoc County. Ken Cordrey provided a terrific "guest speaker" appearance loaded with HR information to one of Chester's classes - Thanks Ken!!
To date, MDP has provided resources and information to over 51 new business inquiries. Recruitment for the next round of workshops to be held in Surprise Valley is in progress.
Business Services Plans
Business Services activity in the next few months should be extensive and informative for local businesses.Presentations are scheduled during July with local Rotary Clubs and with Chambers of Commerce for Alturas and Cedarville. This is intended as one way in which to update the communities they serve regarding activities and support available from AFWD for local businesses.
These presentations will focus on Business Services, much of which is new to the area. They offer an effective means for generating personal contacts, a chance to meet with groups that have common interests with AFWD goals and opportunities to discuss our programs in detail. Businesses need to be assured that if they are signed up for AFWD assistance, they can depend on the customized services we offer and these group meetings are a good format in which to provide this information.We are updating a list with contact information for all businesses in the County, completion of which should be by mid July. This list will be used to present information to local businesses regarding services offered by AFWD. For example: we used this list to contact businesses regarding a Workshop on Paid Family Leave, scheduled for July 22 at the Modoc Employment Center.
Many Modoc County businesses are in Alturas, but many are in other cities and altogether cover a considerable geographic area. This wide area makes it difficult to routinely contact businesses on a one-to-one basis, and certainly makes effective use of time very difficult. Using this database will allow us to fax materials as required or on demand, making reasonable use of time and helping assure up to date information is available to interested parties.
