Modoc County Community Coordinator's Report
January to April 2003
Respectfully submitted by Kelley Poindexter
Alliance for Workforce Development
Modoc Employment Center Staff Promotions!!!
Wow, change is in the wind in Modoc. We are happy to welcome new Employment Specialist Dennis Snow the the team!! This is a fairly new program position at MEC and staff is excited about the addition. Former Employment Specialist Donna Garcia has been promoted to Program Coordinator. Donna has worked closely with past program coordinators and is ready for the new challenges that lie ahead. Tracey Glenn has been promoted to Service Coordinator and has jumped into this new position with lots of enthusiasm. Congratulations everyone!
Web site Initiative 2003
Once again the interest in the field was fantastic! Spots were filled quickly. Several new business participated this round. It was really great to have the added support and assistance from MEC Computer Lab Coordinator Wendy Luna. Staff is still following up on the participants progress. A few have really hit the ground running and thrilled with their new sites, and a few are still kinda intimidated with the technology. One of the 2003 Web site Initiative participants is Mahogany Ridge Ranch. The new site http://www.mahoganyridgeranch.com/has been linked to a Professional Women's Basketball Players site. Modoc's own WNBA player Kayte Christensen is the daughter of guest ranch proprietors Randy and Cathy Christensen and has had her parents new web site linked to her personal web site. (http://www.kaytechristensen.com/) Good job!! We are working with other participants, assisting with their skills and helping encourage them to venture into the cyberspace world. Thank you Nortec, for providing this opportunity to Modoc businesses. Go Kayte!
Payroll Tax Reporting Seminar
A collaboration between Modoc Employment Center, Modoc-Siskyou Child Support Services and Employment Development Department proved to be extremely successful in providing local businesses with up to the minute tax reporting and child support information. MEC's Laura Yeier and CC Kelley Poindexter worked very hard on the recruiting for this event. All I can say is I am veryglad our EDD partner as resourceful as she is helpfu. Over 32 Modoc businesses attended the half day workshop, the turnout was so tremendous that we rented the local VFW hall. Mary Ann Neveu of Child Support Services (http://co.siskiyou.ca.us/dcss/contact.htm)and Ron Caldwell, Tax Administrator for EDD provided a wealth of information to very attentive participants. The forum was very interactive with businesses asking loads of questions. In addition to the show in Alturas, MaryAnn and Ron proceeded the following day to Tulelake and were greeted by 12 Newell/Tule employers. The overall evaluations were wonderful with lots of really positive feedback. Thanks Ron and Mary Ann for sharing your expertise and knowledge and MEC's EDD partner Laura Yeier for all your help. You are all terrific!!
Modoc Siskyou Child Support Services Outreach person Mary Ann Neveu shares her knowledge.
EDD's Tax Demonstrator Ron Caldwell holds the crowd spellbound with
tax information!
Alturas Afternoon Rotary
Modoc Employment Center staff Laura Yeier and Kelley Poindexter presented the Alturas Afternoon Rotary with lots of center info. It turned out the be a great venue to plug our upcoming business seminars and the second annual Job Expo. As always we found the Rotarians to be a wonderful audience.
Modoc Economic Vitality Workgroup
Lots of new stuff happening all around Modoc. The Workgroup meeting has really turned out to be the happening "place" to seek support for upcoming projects, share ideas, gather info, or just to catch up on what is happening. Our last meeting proved a great place to seek support for a current grant opportunity for a youth employment and mentoring program. We are awaiting the state contracts to proceed with the Micro-Enterprise project. Hopefully the recruiting and hiring of staff will be starting soon and MEC is ready to assist. Also, Modoc Economic Development Corporation has expanded from just a revolving business loan fund to administering the current USFS grant. MEDC is hoping to hire a coordinator who can assist with various business enhancement projects as well as cultivating new employment opportunities for our county. One very exciting project is Superior California Economic Development District's new internet mall. The new site is Mountain County Showcase.com and features artists and products from Trinity, Modoc and Shasta counties. The goal of this project is give artisans and small producers a venue to show off their wares. Currently they are recruiting vendors from the tri-county area, and will be linking directly back to the venders web site, as well as various county links. Bob Nash is hoping to demonstrate the project at a future Modoc Economic Vitality Workgroup meeting. Sounds like a terrific project and we are all anxious to see it's success.
Surprise Valley Chamber of Commerce Squirrel Round-Up
Beautiful Surprise Valley is mainly an agricultural based community. Alfalfa, garlic and cattle reign supreme. Each year the chamber hosts the annual Squirrel Round-up. The event is a help to local ranches and farms, as well as a fundraiser for the Chamber. The hunt is scheduled for the Saturday closest to the first day of Spring when the ground squirrels start damaging crops and began to multipy. It seems the small varmints feast on root systems of established plants severely effecting crop production. Each year farmers and ranchers loose thousands and thousands of dollars to these little guys. As well as damaging crops, the leave huge burrow holes in fields where livestock can actually break their legs. The locals have been banned from using poison on the exploding squirrel population since 1990. Yep, these squirrels are hazardous to the health of our farmers and ranches. So, as you can now guess, squirrel hunters from all over the west come together to compete in the Squirrel Round-up, and you should see some of the elaborate squirrel shooting set-ups! Wow! Over 102 hunters paid to participate this year. A social hour, barbeque, and silent caution finish up the event with style. The Surprise Valley Chamber works hard with the local ranches and farms to map out appropriate shooting areas and rules. Everyone has a really great time (except the squirrels) and the chamber makes a few dollars. For more information click on Surprise Valley Chamber of Commerce . If you want to read a Los Angeles Times reporter's story click here. Happy Hunting from Modoc County!
Well that is it for now. We are gearing up for our 2nd Annual Job Expo next month. Lot's of uncertainty for a few Modoc Businesses. I will keep you posted. Thanks for visiting this report and stop in and see us sometime!