Election
Richard nominated.himself. Diana nominated Leslie Ware.
Leslie: He runs the computer lab at the Paul’s Place, and has partnerships at Allen AME a week, and ensures that 600 people a week get fed
Richard: current Chair, his honor to serve as the Chair of the workforce development committee, has had the honor to guide the committee to community outreach efforts, including job fairs prior to Covid, adjusted mission to advocacy during covid. Had policy training delivered by Kurt Sommers, and working on advocacy training for the Committee. Those tools will go well beyond the Committee. Also oversaw hundreds of thousands of dollars of funding for Lowe’s and participated on the workforce grant committee, and is working with a local trucking company to help them hire locally. Also met with folks from Head Start and the state who are interested in working with the SWP on childcare provision. Has been his mission as Chair to make sure that folks have well paying jobs and also help people who are looking to move up in their careers.
Khandra what would you focus on in 2022? Leslie-working with the elderly, connecting seniors with employment opportunities. Richard: would like to see the advocacy training and the outreach work completed. Would like to see the Committee engaged in the upcoming session. Would also like to see the childcare pipeline created and the dump truck/CDL program come to fruition.
Chris: What is the role of this Committee?
Richard: To fulfill the SWP Vision Plan–it is the result of years of work in community engagement. Employment and job opportunities is one of the focuses of the Committee. The Committee is not a social service agency. There are many things we’d like to see done that are not the focus of the Committee.
Leslie: if elected would keep what is happening and bring new things.
Paulette: hopes that whoever wins won’t be picky with people and will put their heart and soul into helping people.
Richard received 12 votes
Leslie received 9 votes
Program Updates
With the leadership change at JOTF we’ve reached out to the ACLU to schedule advocacy training
Patrice Bryan put together a brochure/one pager with the workforce development and training programs which Elizabeth will share with the Committee after the meeting.
While Rachel is on maternity leave the SWP won’t be working with community members directly but will refer out to partners for both job development and case management.
Announcements
Ms Paulette is looking for donations for children and seniors for a holiday event and will put her phone and email in the chat.
Richard has been talking to a local trucking company, there is a great need for CDL drivers. Even if people have their CDLs they may fail the training for dump trucks.
