|
Our ARIZONA@WORK Coconino Workforce Board pursues collaborations that create synergy; an excitement to share knowledge, leverage resources, and skills to enhance services for job seekers and employers. Staff is involved in shaping and drafting the Northern Arizona Good Jobs Network Blueprint.
The Northern Arizona Good Jobs Network partners include Yavapai, Mohave, Coconino, Apache, and Navajo counties; state, tribal and local government workforce development systems and operators; Western Area Council of Government (WACOG); Northern Arizona Council of Government (NACOG); economic development organizations; business and industry stakeholders including the US Chamber of Commerce; higher education institutions including Coconino Community College, Mohave Community College, Northland Pioneer College, and Yavapai College, and public/private organizations.
The NAJGN partners convened last year and worked collectively and collaboratively to produce the draft Blueprint presented to the partners on February 22-23. The proposed training programs include:
-Matching Non-technical Skills Gaps to Training Solutions
-Pilot a medical assistant training accelerator model with community colleges
-Adapt and scale a successful Mohave County CDL apprenticeship model
-Scale and adapt an existing construction hands-on training model
-Pilot a training-to-employment pipeline program in a community kitchen setting
Recognizing the value of creating a Northern Arizona Good Jobs Network (NAGJN), former Governor Doug Ducey awarded Local First Arizona and partners funding to implement the project. The Northern Arizona Good Jobs Network (NAGJN) will create and implement industry-led training programs designed to provide skills for and connect unemployed or underemployed workers to existing and emerging job opportunities. The partnership’s system will take into consideration the size and scope of each community’s given workforce and the training needs of its employers and workers both in the local community and region at-large. In doing so, the partnership aims to maximize resources across all five counties, avoid duplication of services, and address each community’s needs identified in respective Comprehensive Economic Development Strategies (CEDS), with the objective of increasing and enhancing community and regional growth. Ultimately, these systems are designed to train workers with the skills to secure quality jobs that provide good pay, benefits, and growth opportunities throughout the region.
NAGJN’s approach is to work beyond traditional service system silos to capitalize on limited resources, build regional capacity, and advance economic development and workforce ecosystems that are collectively resilient to risk. Northern Arizona communities continue to report social vulnerability scores associated with external stresses on human health impacted by food insecurity, housing instability, inability to pay household expenses, continued unemployment, and lack of quality good jobs contributing to economic loss. The NAGJN strives to increase regional resiliency and minimize vulnerability with good jobs, especially for historically underserved, underrepresented, and vulnerable populations.
| 
