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NEWS
| October 7, 2003
Arlington
Center receives $130K grant
The funds come from a national
economic project, officials say.
By Jake
Davis
Contributor to The Shorthorn
A one-stop shop being built on campus for Arlington job seekers
is receiving financial aid from the federal government and the U.S.
Chamber of Commerce.
Diane Warren, the university’s Continuing Education director,
attended a conference in Washington last week along with local Chamber
of Commerce officials Wes Jurey and Don Ellis to discuss working
with a nationally syndicated workforce development model. The Workforce
Innovation Networks initiative is a multi-year federal project focused
on helping cities in economic distress develop a more demand-driven
workforce.
The UTA Continuing Education and Workforce Development Center is
the reason Arlington was one of four cities selected this year as
national demonstration sites. With the selection comes a $130,000
implementation grant to be distributed over two years. Other requests
are Tulsa, Okla., Cincinnati, Ohio, and Brooklyn, N.Y.
Construction of the center, the corner of Mitchell and Pecan streets,
began in December 2002 and will be completed by December of this
year. It is designed to incorporate employers and job seekers into
the workforce development process.
“If you indeed want to be employed upon graduation, this is
where you can be sure of what employers are looking for,”
Warren said.
Ellis, the chamber’s vice president of economic development,
said a job seeker coming to the center will have a myriad of resources
available. The Texas Workforce Commission, with a database of available
jobs will have an office at the center. The center will also include
an employee resource center with job-hunting tools like Internet
connection, fax machines and word-processing applications along
with some pre-vocational skills training options, he said.
Employers will be integrated into the process via the Quality Workforce
Development Committee.
“Some of the companies we have on board are big names like
GM, Six Flags and National Semiconductor along with smaller companies,
which could bring the number of employers involved up to between
40 and 50 groups,” Ellis said.
Although no job seeker is guaranteed a job using any process, Warren
said, the likelihood is increased when unemployed people have resources
in one place.
This workforce development model received national attention because
it involves employers as well as the public systems already available,
said Jurey, the Chamber of Commerce president.
“If you are familiar with the public workforce system, they
don’t engage employers in very many discussions,” he
said.
Jurey added that this is another example of how the relationship
of the university, the chamber and the city is advancing the economy
of Arlington to benefit students, residents and employers.
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| Don
Ellis, a Chamber of Commerce leader, says job
seekers will have a myriad of resources in the center.
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