NEW AREA WORK-FORCE PROGRAM ESTABLISHED

A new system aimed at helping people get and retain good jobs is taking shape in Southeast Missouri.

Plans for a 13-county Workforce Investment Board along with a number of nominations for the new WIB have been submitted to the governors office.

Missouri is included in the second wave of states to kick off the five-year program created under the Workforce Investment Act of 1998. WIA is designed to develop a work force that consistently meets employers' needs for workers.

"The WIB is a new organization," said Ron Swift, who will serve as executive director of the WIB of Southeast Missouri. "The board, which could include up to 50 names, is made up of businessmen and leaders from various public-sector groups."

It is a new way of doing business, said Swift. The program follows the Job Training Partnership Act of 1982 and involves replacement of the Private Industry Council board with the WIB.

The WIB has a broader scope of responsibility for overseeing work-force development for communities. The WIA emphasizes services to youths by establishing a youth council subgroup of the local board to develop plans relating to youths. The youth council includes representative from the juvenile justice system, local law enforcement and youth services agencies, and Job Corps.

Forty-seven board members from Southeast Missouri have been selected for the WIB and approved locally, said Swift.

Many of the former PIC board members are on the WIB nomination list including Ben Bradshaw of Dunklin County, who was chairman of the PIC.

Bradshaw appointed a six-member committee to direct the PIC phase-out, and Johnny Ray Conklin of Kelso and Al Sullivan of St. Francois County are co-chairmen of the committee. Other members are Louis Griffin of Sikeston; Kathy Simpkins of East Prairie, Larry Swindle of Kennett and Stephen Gray of Marble Hill.

The committee will see that all legal aspects are met and that no liability is left with the PIC. The transition team also will help write bylaws for the Workforce Investment Board.

Also involved in the transaction is Cape Girardeau County Presiding Commissioner Gerald Jones.

Discussed during a recent transition meeting was a transportation program to serve the northern portion of the area: Cape Girardeau, Bollinger, St. Francois, Ste. Genevieve, Iron, Perry, Madison and Washington.

Bob Fulton of Marble Hill is chairman of a subcommittee to look into the possibility of a grant in the amount of $200,000 for the transportation project. That amount would be matched by the WIB.

A transportation program funded by PIC already is in operation in some counties of the area. More than 1,700 rides have been provided for Welfare-to-Work clients in the city of Cape Girardeau during the past three months.

"Welfare-to-Work clients and other low-income people who qualify here now have free transportation to and from their place of work," said Cleat Stanfill, program operations specialist with the Southeast Missouri WIB.

Workers are being taken free of charge to such job sites as Procter and Gamble, West Park Mall, Tipton Linen Services, Wal-Mart, Kmart and nursing home in Cape Girardeau. Free transportation is also provided for children to day cares if their parents work and qualify as low-income clients.

All of the trips to and from work are paid for by the WIB. During the final quarter of 1999 WIB paid more than $25,000 for rides. Other free transportation programs are being offered in Mississippi and New Madrid Counties. The new transportation service has been available in New Madrid and Mississippi counties since November for employees of the P&G plant north of Cape Girardeau.

They local program serves Cape Girardeau, Bollinger, St. Francois, Ste. Genevieve, Iron, Perry, Madison, Scott, Stoddard, Mississippi, New Madrid, Pemiscot and Dunklin counties. The local WIB will also share plans with Washington County.