15 Nov Charlotte Works is out and about
It’s been a busy few weeks for Charlotte Works! We’ve travelled near and far to share stories about our success with local and state elected officials and national policymakers:
On October 28, president and CEO Steve Partridge attended the Charlotte City Council’s dinner meeting to educate council members about our work. He shared information about our services to job-seekers and employers, the transformation of the Charlotte-Mecklenburg Workforce Development Board to Charlotte Works and our impact on developing a highly skilled workforce to meet local employer needs.
The Federal Reserve Bank of Richmond invited Charlotte Works to participate in a Workforce Skills Development Roundtable in Charlotte on November 4. We joined representatives from Central Piedmont Community College (CPCC), the N.C. Department of Labor, the Federal Reserve Bank and major local employers to discuss the skills gap, long-term unemployment and training. Partridge outlined our successful partnership with CPCC to fill hundreds of positions for Siemens Energy for the roundtable participants. The next day, Jeffrey M. Lacker, president of the Federal Reserve Bank of Richmond, spotlighted the work of Charlotte Works in a public address.
November 5 found Partridge in Raleigh to testify before the N.C. Joint Legislative Workforce Development System Reform Oversight Committee. The committee heard about Governor Pat McCrory’s vision for the workforce system from gubernatorial advisor Tony Almeida. He participated in a review of the state’s workforce system with other local area workforce board executive directors and chairs and answered questions from the committee.
We ended that busy week as the topic of an episode of Job Ready, a show broadcast on PBS affiliate WTVI and hosted by CPCC’s president, Dr. Tony Zeiss. He and Partridge discussed the state of the workforce in Mecklenburg County on November 7. Catch the replay.
Bridge50, a blog produced by a group of young Washington, D.C.-based attorneys and Congressional aides, featured Charlotte Works in a post that argues that it’s time for legislators to reauthorize the Workforce Investment Act that funds our work. Read “Retooling the Way We Train Our Workforce.”