After All, It Is Only Your Future You Are Benefitting!
The ECA had its first Workforce Development Committee Meeting on 4-12-18. A great first meeting! Showing up and enthusiastically participating were:
Nate King of Peterson CAT, Tom Easter from Northgate Ready Mix, Kevin Ghilotti of Team Ghilotti, Dale Mahoney from Ghilotti Construction Company, and special guest, Bryan Varner an attorney who teaches at Sonoma State and heads up their Construction Management program at SSU.
I am excited to see this committee meet and discuss, with Bryan Varner, all that a new committee should consider as we try to plot our course. Universally, we decided that the #1 criteria for this committee should be to ATTRACT NEW WORKERS! The committee members decided we want to explore reaching out to younger students in a structured and planned manner.
This committee discussed everything from teaching a class at SSU in Construction Management, to providing continuing educational assistance to older workers to enable them to be better managers. We also talked about the exciting new funding and possible expansion of the Construction Corps program to other Counties other than Sonoma County.
The committee members believe we should maintain a strong link with renewed support to the Construction Corps. The CTE is doing a great job and I keep hearing unsolicited comments from Moms, Dads, Aunts and Uncles about how their student is finally motivated about something and going to the Construction Corps classes is something these young people are excited about, and committed to. What a great result that these young people are getting self-confidence and inspiration from the great mentors like Doug Hamilton, Larry Richmond, Terry Pagni, Bill Hartman, Robin Bartholow, Jim Persons, and Stephen Jackson/Amber/Cathy at CTE. Great program-solid results.
I would be remiss if I did not give a “shout out” to Gail Cochran who several years ago funded the CTE program with a substantial check but the program took a few years to get rolling. Way to have the vision Gail!
The ECA will be working with our Workforce Development Committee to structure a program that will make presentations to grade school youth, provide project field trips to demonstrate how many white collar as well as blue collar careers are required in our industry, and will eventually get to a point where Contractors and Affiliates are asked to “adopt a high school” in order to have competition and mentoring to build school projects from beginning to end. The concept is to expose the high schoolers to working together to identify a problem at their school that needs fixing, collaborate with mentoring to come up with a “fix”, design the project, estimate the project, buy the project out, and ultimately build the project. The committee believes this will create school spirit and pride in what is built, expose the students to a small dose of what we do every day, and we will make a big deal about awarding the winning team substantial benefits that will generate word of mouth and ultimately—
ATTRACT NEW WORKERS!
So if you get a chance, thank our Committee Members and ask what you can do to help seed this program. After all-it is only your future you are benefitting!!
The Meeting With the California Transportation Commission was a big success on April 11, 2018. I got a chance to speak directly to the Commissioners and advocate for them to keep allocating dollars to our Highway 101 widening efforts as we have proven that our “self help” with Measure M sales tax can “get the job done”. The message was well received, and the Commissioners got a chance to hear from Mendocino County, Lake County and Sonoma County representatives as to their needs for SB-1 dollars. Of particular interest was the Sonoma County Coast Caltrans project underway to reroute Highway 1 inland from the Gleason Beach area that is sliding into the Pacific Ocean. All in all, a very good day for the ECA membership!
News
The Workforce Investment Board received a $3.2 million grant to help workers impacted by the fires find in-demand occupations, across all industries. In support of the recovery effort, they also voted to prioritize their existing funding to support individuals who want to enter the Building and Trades industry. All these funds are available through Job Link, and require individuals to meet certain criteria. For more information visit Sonoma County Job Link in person at 2227 Capricorn Way, Suite 100 during our open hours, or call (707) 565-5550 and ask for Patti or email her at pandrews@schsd.org For more information of the WIB: www.sonomawib.org
As we all know, most opportunities for employment happen through word of mouth. Patti Andrews at Sonoma County Job Link wants you to include her in those word of mouth opportunities! Please call to inform her of the positions you are looking to fill, the qualifications for that position and she will share with you opportunities for subsidizing on the job training for those new hires. Oh, by the way, she has candidates already looking for employment opportunities…so call now!!!
