NWI Workforce Board Briefs

NWIWB briefs

Issue 58 I November 2016

A monthly newsletter from the Northwest Indiana Workforce Board

Giving Thanks

Volunteers are the backbone of organizations

It’s Thanksgiving time. Time to eat turkey and pumpkin pie, while catching up with family and friends or cheering on a favorite football team. More importantly, it’s a time to give thanks.

For community and nonprofit organizations, it’s a time to recognize volunteers who are critical to the success of the organization and its mission. Volunteers are made up of individuals who give of their time and talents without expecting compensation or recognition. They do what they do because they believe in the organization and its work.

The Northwest Indiana Workforce Board (NWIWB) is a volunteer driven board and its members are made up of people who are dedicated to the region's workforce agenda of having a workforce that is highly skilled, motivated and diverse, earning sustainable or higher wages, and actively engaged in skill advancement and life-long learning.

Special thanks to the NWIWB members who continue working towards:

Increasing skills of the current workforce and making sure they align with economic development strategies and key industry sectors
Improving employer access to qualified workers
Ensuring NW Indiana youth are positioned for continued education and workforce success
Encouraging and supporting an entrepreneurial spirit

October Workforce Snapshot for NW Indiana

5.6% Regional Unemployment Rate 650 Job Postings through Indiana Career Connect

212 Active Employers served through WorkOne NW Indiana

5,435 Job Seekers served through WorkOne NW Indiana

441 Veteran Job Seekers received Priority of Service through WorkOne NW Indiana

1 Million Cups has presence in Region

As the NWIWB continues to support and encourage an entrepreneurial spirit, it's initiatives like 1 Million Cups and their experiential learning opportunities that are helping guide many on their journey of entrepreneurship.

Every Wednesday from 9:00-10:30am, Purdue University Northwest's Commercialization & Manufacturing Excellence Center in Hammond, provides their location as a site for 1 Million Cups video streamed presentations.

This free nationwide program, an initiative of the Kauffman Foundation, is designed to educate, engage, and accelerate early-state startups featuring guest entrepreneurs. Their notion that entrepreneurs can discover solutions and thrive when they collaborate over a million cups of coffee, has attracted an estimated national weekly attendance of more than 2,500 people.

For further information visit http://www.1millioncups.com/hammond or call 219-989-2603.

Local Initiative Featured at Retail Summit in Dallas

On Tuesday, October 4, 2016, Linda Woloshansky, President & CEO of the Center of Workforce Innovations and staff to the Northwest Indiana Workforce Board (NWIWB), presented at the I Am Retail Summit in Dallas, Texas.

The summit was hosted by the ACT Foundation in order to share knowledge on the importance of connecting the right workers to the right jobs within the retail sector and the work of the National Retail Services Initiative--a capacity building systemic initiative focused on developing a skill mapping platform called SEEK, related tools and a sector wide competency model.

Woloshansky’s session entitled, Implementing the National Retail Services Competency Model through State-Wide Work and Learn Policy in Indiana, shared best practices, provided overview of the NWIWB's Rise to Retail initiative, and offered approaches on incorporating work and learn models in any industry. The NWIWB received funding from the Chicago Cook Partnership through a national Walmart Foundation grant to create awareness of retail careers and provide training recognized through the National Retail Federation and the National Loss Prevention Foundation. Woloshansky also highlighted the opening of the Retail Training Lab at Southlake Mall where the training takes place for individuals who currently work in the retail industry or those looking to move into a retail career.

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