workforce development

One of the important strategies of the Greater Watertown-North Country Chamber is to be a provider of education and workforce development services and programs through partnerships with appropriate agencies, organizations and individuals. We have a committed Workforce Development Committee with representation from the Department of Labor, the Workforce Investment Board, Jefferson Community College, BOCES, and other organizations interested in improving the state of our labor pool.

In a recently completed report on the state of the workforce in Jefferson and Lewis Counties, four issues were identified as critical targets for improvement:

• A pattern of poor communication between schools, employers and the workforce
• A strong interest in entrepreneurship with little evidence of success
• An inability of employers to recruit/train skilled workers with college degrees
• A need to retrain and reorient the workforce to take advantage of emerging job opportunities
• The expansion at Fort Drum has brought new businesses and job opportunities to our community. It also brings an opportunity to engage spouses and separating soldiers in our workforce.
• The Chamber has focused on these threats and opportunities to develop our agenda for 2007 and as a result have undertaken a number of projects:

Job Fair
The Chamber has partnered with the NYS Department of Labor for a number of years on a Job Fair that has grown to be the largest in the North Country. An average of 90 businesses participate, many finding qualified workers to fill job openings. For the past three years we have also partnered with the Fort Drum Employment and Training office to make sure that spouses and separating soldiers take advantage of this chance to meet a number of employers. Check the Calendar of Events to see when the next Job Fair is.

Workforce 2020 Career Fair
In response to the need for more college educated workers, the Chamber created this new program. High school seniors from 18 different school districts meet one-on-one with local business representatives for a mock interview and dialogue on the many great career opportunities that can be found here in Jefferson County. Businesses from over 20 different economic sectors participate, including architecture, engineering, finance, communications and IT, construction, agriculture, education, environmental and animal sciences, the food industry, healthcare, human services, media, energy, manufacturing, mortuary science, retail, tourism, vehicle and aircraft maintenance, transportation, law enforcement and security.

Business-Educator Working Groups
The purpose of this new initiative is to begin to strengthen communication between the schools and the businesses, and to implement initiatives that will help relate curriculum to the real world. The schools are hoping to find ways to involve the students with businesses so that they can understand the connection between what they are learning in school and work. The business community wants to insure that the students that are graduating are more employable than they seem to be. Meetings will begin in 2007 with this unique pilot project.