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The Adams County Workforce Initiative began in April 2013 when more than 40 area leaders gathered to discuss workforce issues and create a platform for continued collaboration. Several key issues were identified during the April meeting and three teams were established to address the most critical of those issues.

Career Guidance Team: Working with businesses to convey to individuals the career opportunities and earning potential available in the Adams County region
Work Readiness Team: Developing work-ready citizens to become successful, productive members of the regional workforce
Succession Planning Team: Ensuring that as workers retire, the knowledge of those retirees stays with local companies and within the community

All three groups have been meeting regularly and as a result of those meetings have developed missions and goals specific to their area of workforce development. In this installment, let’s focus on Career Guidance.

Career Guidance Team

MISSION: Encourage, Educate & Connect
Encourage and foster awareness of careers; educate youth and job seekers about area career opportunities; build connections between families and local employers

Activities of the Career Guidance Team include:

• Conducted survey of junior high and high school principals to assess career guidance opportunities and gaps in Adams County schools
• Conducted “Career Roadshow” pilot project at Central (Camp Point) Freshmen Orientation night, March 13, 2014
• Planning a second Career Roadshow for Spring 2015
• Conducted a meeting with Adams County school counselors to develop an implementation plan for career guidance activities 
• Hosted a joint meeting with the Work Readiness team to share both teams’ plans

The Adams County Workforce Initiative is being guided by a steering committee consisting of representatives from the Workforce Investment Board of Western Illinois, John Wood Community College, United Way of Adams County, Quincy University, West Central Region Education for Employment System #240, Quincy Public Schools, Vatterott College and the Great River Economic Development Foundation. Individuals interested in becoming a member of one of the workforce teams should contact Angela Caldwell at 217.223.4313 or caldwella@gredf.org. 

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2^nd Annual Business Survey Results Reveal Pattern in Region’s Strengths

The Survey was conducted by GREDF in partnership with City of Quincy and Adams County.

Quincy and Adams County, Illinois… 62 individuals and organizations responded to the 2014 online survey conducted by the Great River Economic Development Foundation in partnership with theCity of Quincy and Adams County. The number of completed surveys is lower than the 203 received last year, but officials still see value in the data.

The 15-question survey was designed to gauge the current business environment in our region and set benchmarks for measurable growth. Trends emerged in the areas of community strengths and weaknesses, as well as business expansion plans.

“We’ll weave the positive findings from these surveys, such as our high quality of life and building availability/cost, into the outreach messages we share with site consultants and potential developers,” says Marcel Wagner, president of the Great River Economic Development Foundation. “The weaknesses identified by survey respondents tell us that we need to continue to focus on workforce development and workforce attraction.”

When asked the community’s strengths as a place to do business, the top two strengths remained the same. 79% of survey respondents chose quality of life (down from 80% in 2013) and 53% indicated cost of living was at the top of the list (down from 64%). Strengths that moved up in this year’s list include Building Availability/Cost (43%) and Community Leadership (40%).

“The Quincy area remains an economical choice for both start-ups and established companies looking to expand their operations,” says Mayor Kyle Moore. “Not only do we offer a low cost of living and high quality of life, we also offer resources and support to help businesses succeed.”

Cost of doing business took over the number one spot in Community Weaknesses at 47%, pushing workforce/labor market to the number two spot at 44%. While the local cost of doing business is competitive, comments indicated that room for improvement exists when it comes to the State of Illinois. Workforce development is a national issue and will continue to be one of the region’s top priorities.

When asked to rate the quality and availability of workers in the area on a scale from one to seven with seven being the highest/most favorable: 56% of respondents have a favorable opinion of the quality of workers in the area (down 7% from 2013) and 64% of respondents are neutral/positive when it comes to availability of workers in the area (down 4%).

Projected employment needs trended slightly lower in this year’s survey, although remained positive overall. 26% of respondents indicated their projected employment needs are increasing compared to 36% in 2013, while 58% report their needs as stable, up 3% from 2013. With 44% of businesses surveyed planning to expand within the next three years (no change from 2013), developing a plan to attract and train a qualified workforce is essential for continued growth.

Survey respondents indicated they are experiencing recruitment issues with the following positions or skills (2013 numbers in parentheses): Scientific/Technical 41.3% (19.7%), Skilled Production Labor 32.6% (26.5%), Marketing/Sales 19.5% (17.6%), Unskilled Production Labor 17.3% (21%), Administrative 17.3% (10.8%) and Management 10.8% (12.9%). Other in-demand positions and skills include IT/programming, accounting and industrial maintenance/electricians.

This year, two questions were added to the survey to ascertain succession planning within area organizations. 40% of respondents have a succession plan in place, 24% do not have a plan, but indicated they will need to fill positions made available due to retirement in the next 5 years and 11% do not have a plan, but also do not plan to fill the positions.

“Proactive and targeted business retention and recruitment are key to the economic future of our region,” says Les Post, chairman of the Adams County Board. “We look forward to using the findings from the survey to focus the work we do with our partners in economic development and better address the challenges and opportunities the business community faces.”

Future surveys are planned to track the progress of economic development efforts.

For a quick look at the survey results, click here.

[share]Community leaders and stakeholders are making progress on a shared vision for workforce development in the Adams County region. The Adams County Workforce Initiative began in April 2013 when more than 40 area leaders gathered to discuss workforce issues and create a platform for continued collaboration. Much work has been done since that time to move workforce development forward.

Several key issues were identified during the April meeting and three teams were established to address the most critical of those issues.

1. Career Guidance Team: Working with businesses to convey to individuals the career opportunities and earning potential available in the Adams County region
2. Work Readiness Team: Developing work-ready citizens to become successful, productive members of the regional workforce
3. Succession Planning Team: Ensuring that as workers retire, the knowledge of those retirees stays with local companies and within the community

All three groups have been meeting regularly and as a result of those meetings, have developed missions and goals specific to their area of workforce development.

Work Readiness Team

Activities of the Work Readiness Team include:

• Develop and adopt a list of essential workplace skills and organize them into foundational, intermediate and advanced levels – completed
• Partner with the Workforce Investment Board of Western Illinois to validate these essential skills by obtaining employer and agency endorsements – completed
• Share the essential skills document with area agencies to ensure prospective employees are hearing the same work-ready message – ongoing
• Identify ways for candidates to illustrate/validate their work-ready skills to employers – ongoing
• Host a joint meeting with the Career Guidance team to present both teams’ plans to area employers

The Team unveiled its Essential Workplace Skills document during a press conference on Wednesday, August 27, 2014, as part of Illinois Workforce Development Week. It also shared a list of employers and agencies that have already endorsed the essential skills and made endorsement forms available to organizations interested in supporting the initiative. Employers or agencies interested in receiving a copy of the endorsement form may download a pdf here.

The Work Readiness Team will hold a series of workshops for agency representatives to provide a more in-depth introduction of the essential skills and how the Team will be promoting the skills, to those individuals working on the front lines of workforce placement and development. The schedule for the workshops is:

• September 9, 9:00 am, Quincy Senior Center
• September 17, 1:00 pm, John Wood Community College
• September 25, 3:00 pm, Quincy Workforce Service Center 

Workshops will include resources to assist agencies when preparing job seekers, group discussion on the challenges and resources to help job seekers that often have barriers to seeking and keeping employment such as those job seekers with felonies, lack of child care, and transportation issues. For more information about these workshops, contact Howard Kirchner, Director of Workforce Development, Two Rivers Regional Council of Public Officials at 217.222.1560 x230.

The Adams County Workforce Initiative is being guided by a steering committee consisting of representatives from the Workforce Investment Board of Western Illinois, John Wood Community College, United Way of Adams County, Quincy University, West Central Region Education for Employment System #240, Quincy Public Schools, Vatterott College and the Great River Economic Development Foundation. Individuals interested in becoming a member of one of the workforce teams should contact Angela Caldwell at 217.223.4313 or caldwella@gredf.org.