Clark County Economic Development Corporation's 25th Anniversary, Current Economic Initiatives
Friday, May 22nd, 2015 -- 11:40 AM
-25 years ago, the process began to create an economic development organization for Clark County. The dream became a reality with the help of a long list of volunteer members of a startup committee to create the Clark County Economic Development Corporation and Tourism Bureau.In a special celebration of the CCEDC's 25th Anniversary, and their 25th Anniversary Gala being held at Munson Bridge Winery in Withee on Saturday June 6th, throughout May on Friday, and on the first Friday of June, we'll have a special report about the past, present and future of the CCEDC.
On Tuesday, I had an opportunity to sit down with Sheila Nyberg, the Executive Director of the CCEDC, to talk about some of the current initiatives the CCEDC has spearheaded and is helping push forward.
The first one we talked about was Clark County's Workforce Council.
Sheila said, "The Workforce Council truly rose out of a need. We had, several years ago, we started working with Workforce Development and we would put together Job Fairs for our employers. And we held Job Fairs in different corners of the county and we'd do it every six months, 3 months, we would do it every six months for sure. And we were finding that, all of sudden, we were having less and less people show up. We said, we've got to do something different. If the employees aren't coming in and we have 14 or 18 or 27 employers standing there, something is tightening up here that we need to figure out what to do. So, we brought a lot of the employers together, who are always at our Job Fairs, and Workforce Development and we brought in some of our tech ed teachers from the classroom level, the tech college representatives. And we actually sat down and said, what are going to change in the atmosphere here because something is different. We're not finding the employee base."
Another initiative the CCEDC is behind and a way to help fill those empty positions is by bringing back our alumni. Sheila explained that in more detail.
"We are after our alumni," Sheila said. "We are out there pushing and pushing and if we can get in at the basketball game that is going on and the alumni are all there, we want to be there. We want to put the job lists available out there, let them know how to connect with our office. We want to tell them what's happening in Clark County and invite them back home."
Helping attract alumni is where the county's new Broadband Consortium steps in.
Sheila said, "If you want to draw somebody home, you have to make sure you're connected. And so we have formed a Broadband Connectivity, the Clark County Consortium group. And we have some great leaders from the UW-Extension helping us through this process. We also have our state and federal folks at that level watching what we're doing. Because they're concerned. I mean, we are rural, but we're feeding the world. We have children who get off the school bus with their iPad and can't communicate and do their homework. We've got to make sure that our county is as served as anybody else in the technology world. It's just crucial."
The above mentioned initiatives are just some of many that the CCEDC is behind. As I mentioned, this was the second part of a 4-part program about the Clark County Economic Development Corporation and Tourism Bureau. Next week, we'll take a closer look at some of the current tourism events and initiatives the CCEDC is involved with. The CCEDC is still accepting reservations for the Anniversary Gala at Munson Bridge Winery in Withee on Satruday, June 6th. The cost is $50 per person and reservations are accepted until May 27th.
Feel free to contact us with questions and/or comments.