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The Lincoln/Logan County Chamber of Commerce Workforce Readiness
Expo (WRE) Committee is looking for local business partners to
invest in the future workforce of Logan County. Last year's WRE
ranked number 3 on the Courier's "Things we would like to see in
Logan County" list. The WRE is an event that gives local high school
students the opportunity to visit with Logan County businesses that
may one day offer them a job, in addition, experienced professionals
take time to teach students valuable workforce skills that many
business leaders say are lacking in today's workforce pool. The
Workforce Readiness Expo will be held on Tuesday, April 24th at
Jefferson Street Christian Church.
This event is NOT a job fair. The chamber is hoping to accomplish
two things with the Annual Workforce Readiness Expo. 1. Prepare
local high school students in Logan County for the next step,
whatever that next step would be for them. Workshops will be offered
on career planning, goal setting, resume writing (interviewing),
workplace educate, and how to maximize students remaining years in
school. 2. With the business expo portion of this event, the chamber
is hoping to show Logan County youth that there are viable careers
in Logan County, so they don't have to leave to make a good living.
"Instead of job shadowing just one career, this event equips
students with needed skills while exposing them to numerous local
occupations" says Kristi Powell, of Heartland Community College and
committee member
"We are asking for the community's help to ensure the
sustainability of this excellent event. Last year Lincoln Community
High School had a grant that helped financially support the event.
Unfortunately they did not receive this grant again this year. Our
objective with the WRE is to help create a better workforce pool for
our local businesses, also to engage students early with our
business community to show them there are viable career choices in
Logan County. There are several ways the community can get involved
in this event to ensure its success year after year." said Andi
Hake, executive director of the Chamber of Commerce.
Volunteers are needed to serve on a one-hour educational
discussion panel in the areas of Agriculture, Healthcare,
Civic/government/non-profit, or entrepreneurship and manufacturing.
These spots are filling up quickly, but if someone is interested in
volunteering for a panel they just need to contact the chamber
office.
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Being a sponsor of the event is a much needed way to help the WRE.
A minimum of thirty sponsors at $50 each is needed to be able to
hold the event this year, and one lunch sponsor to help feed the
students lunch on the day of the event. Each sponsor is given a
booth space in the expo portion of the event. The Expo is when the
students have the opportunity to engage with businesses on the best
path to take in order to be able to qualify for a position in that
particular field. "The expo concept is the hardest for our local
businesses to grasp. It is not necessarily a job fair, nor are they
selling a product. It is much more a philanthropic act than a sales
expo. If the WRE continues to succeed then our local businesses will
see the benefits back ten-fold in a higher quality applicant and
employee" Hake added.
Contact the Chamber if you are interested in supporting the
Workforce Readiness Expo. The event will be held at Jefferson Street
Christian Church from 8:00am to 1:30pm on Tuesday, April 24. Contact
the Chamber office for more details 217-735-2385 or
chamber@lincolnillinois.com.
The Workforce Readiness Expo directly reflects the mission of the
Chamber to be the advocate for business by providing leadership,
programs, and services that create, protect, and enhance the
business environment for the benefit of Chamber members and
Lincoln/Logan County.
[Text from file received from
the Lincoln/Logan County
Chamber of Commerce]
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