Manufacturing Week in Northwest Indiana helps boost awareness of the industry and its workforce
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Events spanned across weeks throughout the end of September and into October, as region schools and employers participated in activities to celebrate Manufacturing Week and create awareness on the manufacturing industry in the region. Participants learned about the many companies, jobs, and skills needed to be part of the manufacturing workforce in Northwest Indiana.
- Economic Development Corporation Michigan City (EDCMC) and the Greater La Porte Economic Development Corporation (GLEDC) hosted “Made in La Porte County." The event hosted 700 middle and high school students and showcased 38 manufacturers. La Porte County Unity Foundation, Center of Workforce Innovations, and the Northwest Indiana Workforce Board served as additional sponsors.
- Merrillville High School students toured Carmeuse Lime and Stone in Gary.
- School City of Hobart Middle School students participated in a virtual manufacturing activity, while some high school students toured Airtek, Inc.
- Starke County Economic Development Foundation hosted approximately 500 students and community members at an all-day manufacturing fair, featuring local employers.
- Portage Economic Development Corporation and Portage schools hosted Manufacturing 360, with tours of four Port of Indiana manufacturers.
- Winamac High School students tour Winamac Cold Draw and Hot Mill.
- 60 Area Career Center of Hammond students toured Dakkota Integrated Systems.
- Purdue University Northwest's College of Technology and Commercialization & Manufacturing Excellence Center provides students with tours of Three Floyd's Brewing Company and Land O'Frost.
- Valparaiso, Kankakee Valley, and Neighbor's New Vistas high schools also participated with taking students on tours of manufacturing companies in their communities.
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Starke County Economic Development Foundation Manufacturing Fair
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Starke County Economic Development Foundation Manufacturing Fair
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Starke County Economic Development Foundation Manufacturing Fair
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School City of Hobart at AirTek, Inc.
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Portge EDC Manufacturing 360 at the Ports of Indiana
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Portage EDC Manufacturing 360 at the Ports of Indiana
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Merrillville Schools at Carmeuse Lime and Stone in Gary
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Merrillville Schools at Carmeuse Lime and Stone in Gary
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Latest Retail Fundamentals and ServSafe® Certification training graduates 10 people
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On November 3rd, ten individuals graduated from a Retail Fundamentals and ServSafe Certification class and will be recognized at the Gary WorkOne office in a congratulatory event. The certification training was part of the Reimagine Retail initiative, and was made possible with funding from Chicago Cook County Partnership through a grant from the Walmart Foundation.
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Regional Snapshot
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Labor Force Report
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Unemployment dipped slightly from 5.2% to 4.8% in Northwest Indiana, maintaining a trend of lower unemployment than 2016. This is nice to see after a significant rise from June through August.
The opposite side of that coin is the lowering of the labor force size. Last year at this time our labor force was 406,903. Currently, we’ve shed over 6,700 workers and are down to 400,145.
Northwest Indiana still has the highest unemployment rate in the state. In a sense though, this may be an advantage in a labor-strapped economy; unemployed workers are available workers, as far as a company is concerned.
Indiana continues to have the lowest unemployment rate by a meaningful margin compared to neighboring states.
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Meet the Northwest Indiana Workforce Board
Chair-
Mary Lewis,
Accounting & Business Manage
r-Andover Management/In Good Company
Vice Chair-
Debi Baughman,
Director of Training
-Horizon Bank
Secretary-
Gary Olund,
President & CEO
-Northwest Indiana Community Action
Treasurer-
Frank Cardello,
Chief Financial Officer
-Packaging Logic
Past Chair
-George Douglas,
Sr. VP of Operations
-Indiana Beverage
Members
:
- Jim Clarida, President & Business Representative-IBEW Local 531
- Thomas Coley, Chancellor-Ivy Tech Community College
- Adam Collins, Vice President of Operations-Kruz, Inc.
- Kim DeQuis, Regional Manager-Family & Social Services Administration
- Kris Emaus, Chair-Region 1 Works Council
- Ric Frataccia, Superintendent-Valparaiso Community Schools
- Rich Gamblin, Apprenticeship/Training Coordinator-Ironworker Local 395
- Clausell Harding , Adult Education Director-A.K. Smith Center
- Keith Kirkpatrick, Owner-KPM Group
- Karen Kopka, Senior HR Manager-American Licorice Company
- Kristine Lukowski, HR Manager-Republic Services
- Joseph Medellin, Manager Human Resources-ArcelorMittal Indiana Harbor
- Gary Miller, Chief Executive Officer-Prompt Ambulance
- Dan Murchek, President-Northwest Indiana Federation of Labor
- Arlene Pearson, Chief Human Resources Officer-Edgewater Systems
- Barbara Sacha, Labor Relations Manager-ArcelorMittal
- Ben Scheiner, Plant Manager-Wastebuilt
- Chris Smith, VP Human Resources-NiSource
- Brenda Walters, Human Resources Director-Wastequip
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