PIC OFFERS JOB-TRAINING OPTIONS

The Private Industry Council that serves 13 Southeast Missouri counties is being reorganized because of a change in federal law that provides federal money for job training to local communities.

The reorganization would take place under the Workforce Investment Act of 1998 in an effort to better use federal job-training money.

PIC oversees job-training services from Ste. Genevieve to the Bootheel and administers between $4 million and $5 million in federal money each year. The program has produced success stories in Southeast Missouri.

Among the changes being sought by PIC, county commissions in each county would have more oversight of how the money is spent. The commissions actually would become liable for spending of the money.

The new effort to provide job training across the country should work with even more success under the changes that would take place with the governor's authorization for reorganization. Putting more responsibility on the shoulders of county commissioners and expanding the councils to include more members of the business community are also positive moves.