Modoc County

Quarterly Report

April-June 2002

by Kelley Poindexter, Community Coordinator

Modoc Employment Center

JOB EXPO!!

The first annual Job Expo featured over a dozen businesses with a combined 30-40 open positions.  Job seekers applied for a huge variety of part time and full time openings including food preparers and servers, carpenters, roofers, teachers, instructional aides, office and clerical staff, custodians, truck drivers, mechanics, equipment operators, slot attendants and technicians, housekeepers, laborers and more.  Jobseekers could pick up applications at the center beforehand so they would be prepared for an immediate interview at the Expo..  Each employer had their own station, prospective employees could see several employers in one setting.  The event was very successful.  Evaluations were collected from the employers, all comments were very positive, many business participants asked if the event could be hosted more than once a year.   The Job Expo was a joint effort between Employment Development Department and Alliance for Workforce Development.  A big thanks to AFWD's Laurie Wann for all her help and marketing  expertise.  She was instrumental in our success with MEC's first Job Expo.

Fourth Annual Tri-State Regional Job Fair

Modoc High School was the venue for the massive event.   Approximately 70 inside and outside exhibits provided attendees with lots of information.  Colleges, Armed Forces, local agencies and business started the afternoon off with a Tri-Tip Barbeque cooked by the local FFA chapter.  The Alturas Rotary and Sunrise Rotary invited exhibitors to join them in their joint luncheon meeting.  Afterwards about 300 students and adults toured the booths.  They were provided information regarding career and educational opportunities that may pertain to their interests. As well as information, many exhibitors provided hands on experiences for the participants.  Alliance for Workforce Development set up a computer station showcasing our Youth program.  The Tri-State Regional Job Fair is sponsored by Alliance for Workforce Development, EDD, Modoc High School, Modoc County Office of Education, School to Work, Alturas Sunrise Rotary and the Alturas Noon Rotary clubs. 

AFWD's Julie Miller at her post at the Tri-State Regional Job Fair

RURAL WORKFORCE CONFERENCE, RENO, NEVADA

Front line MEC staff member Tracey Glenn and CC Kelley Poindexter attended this conference.  The  workshops targeting rural community challenges were very interesting and  helpful.   It is so nice to attend a conference with "small town" focus relating to issues rural communities are facing.  Some of the success stories of rural America were inspiring and fueled the "can do" attitude.  The other nice part was having the conference so close to home.  (only 3 hours away)  

MODOC ECONOMIC SUMMIT

The first Economic Summit was held at the Veteran's Hall in Alturas.  There were approximately 100 attendees and several more who floated in as they could.  AFWD's Carol Sharp did an excellent job in bring the event together.  She polled the local business community on topics they wanted to hear about.  With that in mind, a "Modoc" specific summit began to take shape.   Dan Ripke of Chico State  shared  very enlightening presentation on Modoc County demographics and current economic conditions.  Mary Wollesen and Pan Landon- Sierra College Small Business Development Center, Walt Davis of Bank of America, Dwight Beeson of Plumas Bank (and WIB member) and Bob Nash of Superior California Economic Development shared in the Small Business Panel discussion.  Wayne Schell - Cal Ed, was a hit with his views on economic development and related topics.. Deanna Johnston - Lakeview Chamber of Commerce,  and Arlene Clark - Mayor of Lakeview shared the ups and downs of their current downtown revitalization project. Susan Guyette - Santa Fe Planning and Research,  spoke on the tourism potential for Modoc.  Janis Trueblood - AFWD, was dynamite as the wrap-up speaker.  She really knows how to work a crowd.  Thanks,  Janis.

Bob Nash-SCEDD, Dwight Beeson-Plumas Bank & WIB member, and Walt Davis- Bank of America address the crowd on the matters of business finance.

Wayne Schell's presentation keeps everyone riveted.

SBDC's Mary Wollesen doing what she does best!

The speakers covered a vast array of topics covering business finance, expansion and retention,  downtown revitalization, tourism potential, economic vitality, grant funding, and much, much more.  We gathered comments from participants and were overwhelmed with the response.  Many included their names and addresses to volunteer their help and support for future efforts.  The following questions were asked on the evaluation form.  Some of the remarks included:

What was most valuable to you in today's event?-

"To gauge willingness of area residents and businesses to work with agencies to stimulate growth, economic development, and tourism."

"The most valuable  event today was seeing the amount of people with the same interest in making Modoc grow"

"Knowledge of the availability of resources.  Great to see the cooperation of local businesses."

"I came to hear about small business development- excellent/great -so were all the other topics & speakers"

What would you like to hear more about?

"How my business can encourage training and keeping our workforce.  Training youth in our craft."

"How to motivate business owners to strategize together?"

"How to prevent retail slippage?"

"Anything that would improve my business and town."

Are you willing to work with your community to strengthen local business and the economy?

Every respondent said yes!!

Overall the Modoc Economic Summit was a terrific success!!  Now we will to focus on where to go from here.

Independent Living Skills Program gets assistance from Modoc Employment Center

Modoc County has a much needed program targeting young adults from foster care with living skills enhancement.  A series of 3 workshops were developed to help the participants with resources and information they may need in the future.  Laura Yeier, EDD, assisted with job leads and a workshop filled with job search assistance tips.  Julie Miller, AFWD, conducted a special orientation on available WIA services.  Donna Garcia and Kelley Poindexter, AFWD, followed-up with resume skills, MEC resources and computer lab offerings.  The ILP coordinator was thrilled with the results.

Destination: Lakeview, Oregon

On June 4, several Modoc citizens traveled the 50 miles to Lakeview, Oregon.  After the Economic Summit presentation the Lakeview mayor and chamber provided, the group just had to see for themselves.  The new "Downtown Revitalization" project is tremendous.  The new look provides local businesses with tourist friendly sidewalks, road crossings, and public parking lots.  The new main street configuration is extremely effective in slowing down through traffic. The Lakeview business district is delighted with the new facelift and increased pedestrian traffic.   The mayor and chamber director shared  the funding ups and downs, and what not to do tips.  Alturas is scheduled for a Main Street improvements by Cal Trans in the near future and the Lakeview project has provided some very valuable information.    The chamber also shared many great ideas regarding regional branding, working together, addressing business needs, transient occupancy tax use, and regional promotion.  They also added they look forward to working with Modoc county in a regional marketing effort in the near future.

 Website Technology      Training        

The Website Technology Training went extremely well here in Modoc.  We had 16 participants representing 12 businesses including the local hospital, chamber of commerce, a casket maker, restaurant, hotel, bed and breakfast, horse trainer, bakery, gift shop, and clothing store to name a few.  Our lab was full.  We even had an observer.  The business owners were wowed with the opportunity to learn about having their own website.  Internet training is very limited in Modoc County.  The session created a flood of positive comments and more than that, a very good reflection on Nortec and AFWD for providing such a needed opportunity.   Thanks Charlie.  I know we could fill the class again!!

Modoc Economic Vitality Workgroup

The Modoc Economic Vitality Workgroup is continuing the efforts to stimulate the local job market and economy.  The group is a very diverse and dedicated gathering of Modoc citizens.  Several projects are in progress, for example, working with Modoc Economic Development Corporation.  This allows the group to pursue grant funding with a non-profit status.  In it's current capacity, Modoc Economic Development Corporation is strictly a small business loan entity.  The MEDC has formorly accepted the challenge to expand it's role in economic vitality efforts for Modoc County.

 We are also working with Superior California Economic Development District and Sierra College Small Business Center on the possibilities of implementing a micro-enterprise business training and loan program to provide more services and opportunities to small businesses. 

The work group under MEDC,  has also submitted a grant application to USFS for financial  assistance in our economic vitality efforts.   The group meets monthly at Modoc Employment Center.

See you next quarter!!