The following is from a radio broadcast of the Align Center for Workforce Development. Building a more vibrant Lenawee County. alignlenawee.org for more information.
Kristie Mendoza: We are Align Center for Workforce Development and for the next few minutes, we are going to empower, equip, and elevate. I am Kristie Mendoza, a Career Education Navigator.
Kelly McNicol: And I am Kelly McNichol, also a Career Education Navigator, and today we have a special guest who is well known in our community and an employer navigator with a line. Well, Chuck, why don’t you introduce yourself and let the listeners know what we’re going to talk about today, which is our Adopt A District program.
Chuck Chase: Well, I would be happy to, Kelly. Thank you very much. And Christy, it’s great to be here. Just a little background about myself. I’ve been, retired in 2011 after 30 years in manufacturing. and then I consulted for about 10 years. And then I made a stop around, Lenawee now, about three years ago, and they offered me a part-time position. So, all the rest is history, and I’m having the time of my life with, as the employer rep, in Lenawee County.
Kristie Mendoza: Well, one of the reasons we brought Chuck in today is because of his relationships with local businesses. And guess what? The future is happening now in Lenawee County. Our businesses and our schools need to have a more seamless relationship, and more and more students are going into the workplace. This program bridges the gap between them to understand and meet each other’s needs. Now these relationships look a little different for every business and district, and Kelly is going to discuss some of those opportunities.
Chuck Chase: Well, thanks, Kristie. There are so many ways a business can support a school. Some of those are well. For instance, this year, we are putting together career fairs in every single district. That is our goal. , so we need different businesses to have employers or employees come in and talk to students about kind of what their job looks like on a day-to-day basis, what it took to get into that position, kind of what their whole career path looked like, and help students explore a little bit about not only what Career opportunities are out there for them, but especially career opportunities in our own community.The other thing that we’re looking for in this program is to have speakers come into the schools. Kristie and I’ve already had a couple of bankers come into the schools to talk to the different math classes, talking about things like… interest rates and loans, especially those school loans and credit reports, things along that line.
Kelly McNicol: So we’re definitely looking for things like that, but there’s also a lot of benefits to the business as well. So Chuck, why don’t you take that away?
Chuck Chase: I’d be happy to this adopted district program is, is really important because if I were an employer in Lenawee County, I would want. to be a part of this and partner with the school districts.
Basically, if I have a business within a certain radius of a school district, I’m going to make every effort to get into that school and talk to the students, which is a potential talent pool for my business when they graduate. So it’s in a, you know, we spent a lot of money. marketing our business and what better way to get into the school system and talk to the very people who could end up being your employees?
So that would give me a chance to really hand out marketing materials, to talk to the kids, pique some interest about positions they want to, maybe occupy in my business when, when they graduate kind of thing. Staying in Lenawee County, they’re going to take some of the marketing materials that I give them.
And, give those to the parents who might be unemployed and looking for work, and they could come, and I could, interview them and recruit them, perhaps. But what it does, the bottom line is, we’re trying to maintain our economy here in Lenawee County. We want to grow it, make it thrive. We’re keeping businesses here, and we’ve got that continuous talent pool and building our pipeline.
We mentioned the pipeline a long time ago. And that is taking the schools, and the students who are graduating, and pairing them with employers who are looking to hire. It’s a win-win situation for everybody.
Kristie Mendoza: Yep. I agree completely, Chuck. Thank you for that. So, I mean, businesses, this is your call to action. Again, the future is happening now, so let’s retain our Lenawee County Talent Pipeline. If you’re a student, a parent, maybe an employer, what is what we’re aiming towards, you know, we want you to be part of our adopted district program. So please reach out to us today at align at alignLenawee. org. Don’t forget, we are Align Center for Workforce Development, Empower, Equip, Learn.
Thank you for listening to the Lenawee Now and Align Center for Workforce Development program. New messages air every Monday at 6. 15 p.m. For more information on Lenawee Now, visit lenaweenow.org.