Lassen County Update

			Lassen County Update Issue: October-December 2001 www.aworkforce.org
One-Stop Activities			Seminar Teaches How To Contract With The Government On October 10th and 11th, Lassen County business owners attended an exclusive seminar, "How to Do Business with the Government", at Lassen Career Network. This seminar provided an introduction to government contracting opportunities and gave businesses an opportunity to talk directly with state and federal agency representatives. This seminar was simply another way the Lassen Career Network and partnering agencies are helping meet the needs of area businesses. "How to Do Business with the Government" was a joint effort of the Federal Technology Center Procurement Technical Assistance Center, the Department of General Services (www.dgs.ca.gov), Small Business Development Center (www.sbdcsierra.org), and the Alliance for Workforce Development, Inc. (www.aworkforce.org). Collins Pine On October 24, 2001, Collins Pine in Chester, California issued a WARN notice indicating that they would be laying off the majority of their workforce on December 26th, 2001. The rest of the workforce would be working through January 2002. The temporary closure is necessary in order for the mill to prepare for the opening of their new small log mill in May 2002. Collins Pine is one of Plumas County's largest private sector employers and its closure will greatly affect the town of Chester, population 2,500. Lassen County has felt the affects of the closure because some of the employees live in Lassen County. AFWD staff from Lassen County have provided assistance to many of the employees. In addition to the assistance provided to the employees, AFWD is also providing outreach to the three logging companies that are affected by the temporary closure. Some of the logs processed during the last week of operation.

Business and Job Seeker Activities			1st Friday's Employee Handbooks-Oct. Ken Theobald, CPA from Haws, Theobald, & Auman presented the important pieces of an employee handbook. Business Services at LCN-Nov. Traci Peterson, Community Coordinator, AFWD, presented an overview of the employer services available at Lassen Career Network. Participants were also given a tour of the Business Resource Center. Web Site Design-Dec. Sandy Rowley, owner of www.zap5.com introduced the participants to the basics of web design. In addition, she spoke of the many advantages to getting your business on-line.





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Special Events			Konocti This was my first Konocti experience and it was every bit as much as I thought it would be. The breakout sessions were very educational. I brought back quite a bit of information from every session I attended. The staff from Lassen Career Network bonded over Melody Brawley's(Lassen WORKs) famous Italian Sausage Soup. The room was filled with ideas on how to make our One-Stop a better place for businesses and job seekers. Are you thinking like businesses think? I had the pleasure of attending an Art Robbins, "Are you thinking like businesses think" seminar. It was jam-packed with awesome ideas on how to attract businesses into the One-Stop as well as how to market what the One-Stop is and how the services can benefit businesses. Almanor Wellness Collaborative Meeting AFWD was asked to speak about our response to the Collins Pine layoff situation to the newly formed, Lake Almanor Basin Community Wellness Collaborative. I presented the Collins Pine Worker Information packet and reported on our progress.		.

Lassen County Events			Construction on the new Federal Prison is 50% complete Natural Gas is flowing for Susanville residents

Upcoming Events			Youth Job Fair - April 13, 2002 Employer Survey Results 1st Friday's - Labor Law Changes for 2002, Tax Tips