News & Upcoming Meetings from Workone Southwest Indiana, the Grow Southwest Indiana Workforce Board, Inc

Click to view our most recent newsletter.

Click here for previous newsletters

Invitation for Bid
The Grow Southwest Region 11 Workforce Board and The State of Indiana seek to lease office space in Knox County, Indiana for use by the WorkOne Integrated System. Approximately 10,000 square feet of usable space is sought in the city of Vincennes. Prospective sites must include office space and convenient parking facilities for employees and the public. A conference for interested bidders will be held on June 2nd at 9:00 A.M. Eastern Standard Time located in the Council Chambers of City Hall, 201 Vigo Street, Vincennes, Indiana. All questions regarding this Invitation to Bid may be submitted in writing to Crowe Chizek and Co, LLC, State Fiscal Agent, to the attention of: Douglas O. Jones, CPA by email.

Q & A from June 11 are available here as a word document, and here as a pdf.

Request for Quotes - Lean Training Outline
Purpose: The primary goal of this project is to provide training and implementation of Lean principals in an office environment. This training will transform office operations to achieve a strategic competitive advantage. Download the full description of this RFQ as a Word Document. Download the full description of this RFQ as a PDF Document.

NEW RFP: Click for Request for Proposals to Provide One-Stop Management (Regional Operator) Services to the Grow Southwest Indiana Workforce Board, Inc. for Region 11

TAG Grants Awarded to Area Companies
More than $5 million in Training Acceleration Grants have been awarded by the Indiana Department of Workforce Development to Indiana companies or consortia. The program offers matching grants to companies and organizations seeking to expand the skills of existing workers through training. The following Southwest Indiana Companies have been awarded these matching grants; Alcoa (Newburgh, $199,921.00), Anchor Industries (Evansville, $112,100.00),
Enviroplas (Evansville, $24,004.00) and J.E. Shekell (Evansville, $91,555.00).

The Request for Proposals to Provide Workforce System Executive Director and One-Stop Manageent (Regional Operator) Services to the Grow Southwest Indiana Workforce Board, Inc. for Region 11 is available in PDF format by clicking here.

Read the latest article on WIRED from the Evansville Courier & Press - WIRED Programs Desined to Upgrade WorkForce Skills - Courier & Press News Coverage

RON KEEPING NAMED WORKFORCE BOARD CHAIRMAN
Ron Keeping will succeed Andrew Goebel as the chairman of The Grow Southwest Indiana Workforce Board on Jan. 1, 2008. Keeping is now the treasurer of the board and is also the director of economic development and market research at Vectren Corp.

“Ron is a proven regional leader in a number of areas,” Goebel said. “I am confident that Ron will, with the continued support of the board, takes us to the next level.”

The Grow Southwest Indiana Workforce Board represents Indiana’s Economic Growth Region 11, which includes Gibson, Posey, Vanderburgh and Warrick counties.

The Grow Southwest Indiana Workforce Board received a $5 million WIRED (Workforce Innovation in Region Economic Development) grant in 2007. The money will be used to help the organization start training programs in southwest Indiana.

Back to top

WorkOne Southwest to Open Satellite Offices

WorkOne Southwest is announcing the opening of three satellite offices in Boonville, Rockport and Mt. Vernon. The offices will assiste job seekers and businesses with employment services and training.

A ribbon cutting ceremony will be held on Friday, November 9, 2007, at 1:30 p.m. including an open house from 1:00 p.m. – 3:30 p.m. at WorkOne Southwest, located at 306 Kimball St. Mt. Vernon, Indiana. Work One is pleased to announce the opening of three satellite offices in Boonville, Rockport and Mt. Vernon to assist job seekers and businesses with their employment and training needs in their community.

WorkOne was established in Southwest Indiana in November 1999, as the focal point of employment and training activities in Southwest Indiana with a full service office located in Evansville. Businesses can list job openings through the state of Indiana’s Job Matching system, learn about training opportunities, and have job positions profiled through the WorkKeys assessment system. Employers will work with local representatives to better meet their hiring needs.

Job seekers can apply for jobs through the state job matching system, as well as apply for unemployment insurance on the computers located in the office. Additionally, individuals can conduct their job search through the center, they can learn about local job leads, enhance their computer skills through basic computer classes, upgrade basic workplace skills through a computer based Key Train system, get help with career planning and counseling and receive information on educational programs available in the area.

WorkOne’s goal is to assist job seekers in finding and keeping employment through services offered at WorkOne as well as through partnerships throughout the county. The Mt. Vernon office is open Monday thru Friday 8:00 a.m. – 4:30 p.m.

For more information about WorkOne Southwest contact, Kathrin Hast at 812.838.3578 or kathrinhast@workoneevansville.com

Back to top

The Grow Southwest Indiana Workforce Board, Inc., Leading the way with WIRED
Emily Stover DeRocco, assistant secretary of labor for employment and training, was in Evansville recently to kick off Southwest Indiana WIRED (Workforce Innovation in Regional Economic Development).

WIRED is national program that organizes economic development and job training officials in local regions across the country to come up with a regional approach to development and training.

Southwest Indiana WIRED includes nine counties - Vanderburgh, Warrick, Posey, Gibson, Spencer Perry, Pike, Dubois and Knox.

Jim Heck, the staff leader for Southwest Indiana WIRED, said the local program is being planned to accommodate the rural nature of Southwestern Indiana. It plans to develop "e-learning" programs that people can access on the Internet, as well as Internet programs that will offer training in "virtual," or life-like situations, he said.

It also plans to offer a mobile-learning laboratory that will go into rural areas. Programs will focus on advanced-manufacturing and health-care training. These are two industries that have been identified as needing workers and training in Southwestern Indiana, he said.

Southwest Indiana WIRED received a $100,000 federal grant about a year ago. It now has received a total of $50,000 for planning and implementing a program by June. Heck said it will receive another $4.5 million for a total of $5 million over the next 2 1/2 years.

DeRocco said that this was the "third generation" of WIRED grants, which began in February 2006.

Release of Career Guides
Commissioner Indiana Workforce Development, Andrew Penca, was present for the kickoff of Indiana's new career guides for southwestern Indiana recently.The new guides emphasize "Skill Pathways" to connect education to increased wages and greater job opportunities. Twenty-five "High Wage and High Demand" skills necessary to succeed in Indiana's high wage and high demand occupations are described.

The guides are intended to serve as a resource and reference tool for entrant workers, workers in transition, incumbent workers, educators, students, and are intended to help get across the message that "the more you learn, the more you earn."

Back to top

3 Southwest Indiana Area Companies Receive $500,000 in Training Grants
Three southwest Indiana companies will receive state training grants totaling more than $500,000 to help workers improve their skills.

Training Acceleration Grants are awarded by the Indiana Department of Workforce Development and the Indiana Economic Development Corp. The grants are the state's primary job training tool for incumbent workers.

Companies receiving the grants in southwestern Indiana include:

• Alcoa Warrick Operations will receive $199,912 to train 98 workers to improve their welding and hydraulics skills.
• North American Green in Poseyville will receive $199,440 to train 30 workers in advanced manufacturing techniques.
• Waupaca Foundry in Tell City will receive $117,772 to help 134 workers gain certifications in welding.

"The Training Acceleration Grant program is an important tool which assists Indiana businesses build a more competitive workforce at a time when economic growth and diversification are top priorities," said Nathan Feldman, Indiana secretary of commerce and president of the IEDC.

The program has four objectives: promoting small businesses, fostering job retention and expansion, increasing Hoosiers' personal income and providing skills to address gaps in the Hoosier workforce.

The academy is a basic skills certification program sponsored by KCDC, Vincennes University and a number of area employers and organizations including WorkOne and the Southwest Indiana Network for Education.

Selected candidates for the program get free training and help sharpening their job skills. They have to complete 96 hours of classroom instruction to earn a Basic Skills Manufacturing Certification.

Back to top