PRIVATE INDUSTRY COUNCIL ASSISTS IN JOB TRAINING

When Brown Shoe Co. announced plans last year to close several plants in this area and eliminate up to 1,300 jobs, the Southeast Missouri Private Industry Council stepped in to help.

It was the objective of the council to help workers re-train for new jobs or go back to school to learn new skills, as a way to minimize the impact of the layoffs.

Mary McBride, executive director of PIC, said the council dealt directly with affected workers in its reaction to the Brown Shoe Co. layoffs.

"We are seeing a tremendous number of people laid off going back to school," said McBride. "If they don't have a job, there is the opportunity to go back to school and get additional training."

More and more, McBride said she is seeing individuals take advantage of opportunities to go back to school and train for new jobs or to improve their skills.

"I think people realize changes in technology will challenge them when they get back to the work world," explained McBride. "Computerization has a lot of people going back to school."

McBride said PIC has spent more money on tuition this year for community colleges, universities, and vocational schools than in any previous year.

PIC was created as part of the Job Training Partnership Act, passed by Congress in 1982. Federal job training funds account for 95 percent of the money distributed by PIC.

"Our overall goal is to help get a trained work force in this area," said McBride. "We are out to enhance the employability of people and the employment situation in Southeast Missouri; to help with creation of new jobs and the training of individuals.

"We do have some work going on to help new and expanding industry," explained McBride. "We have contracts with some industries around the area to help them train their work force, but because of the economy, many are not hiring as many people as they had hoped."

The SEMO council is one of 15 service delivery areas in Missouri; councils are set up on a regional basis nationwide. The amount of funding a council receives is based on unemployment rates.

This council serves 13 counties, running from Ste. Genevieve and St. Francois Counties to the Arkansas border. The board of directors has two members from each county, who are associated with a private business.

"We have a good cross section of people on our board that offers us a little bit of everything," said McBride. "That's good because we have such great diversity in our region."

Board members represent such groups as business, labor, economic development, vocational rehabilitation, employment security, and education. The chairman of the board is Russell Leek, from the Arcadia Valley Hospital.

Presiding commissioners from the 13 counties provide an oversight function for the organization, and Cape County Presiding Commissioner Gene Huckstep is chairman of the oversight body.

McBride explained that there are a number of different directions the council can take to address the needs of workers and employers. Another key role of the group, she added, is to improve coordination between agencies that can help workers.

Another major project involving the SEMO PIC this year is the federal government's new welfare to work program. This program provides an opportunity for welfare clients to go back to school and eventually move off welfare.

"In some counties in our region, we see that as a tremendous economic development tool," McBride said. "The interesting thing to us is that there are still more people wanting to get into the program than there are positions available. People are anxious to get into the program; I don't think we anticipated that. We are very pleased with what we are seeing there."

McBride said the council this year will emphasize vocational assessment, a program that involves testing individuals to find out what their strengths and weaknesses are to help them with job training.

She said the program is important in the respect that training resources are devoted to individuals for jobs they have the ability to perform.

McBride said they hope to establish mobile assessment centers to serve all 13 counties during the year.

One of the council's pilot projects is an alternative school program for teen parents in Farmington. The program provides a nursery at the high school so that teenage mothers can complete their high school education.

"We think it is a very successful program," she said.

In the years ahead, McBride said she believes PIC will play an increasingly important role in providing a trained work force. Last year, the SEMO council served about 3,000 people.