Community Workforce Development
The purpose of this page is to keep members abreast of community-wide workforce
development initiatives. Stay tuned for new workforce development efforts!
Johnson County Community College
Workforce Training Program
Lawrence and Douglas Country residents can take advantage of workforce training
programs through Johnson
County
Community College by taking classes in a variety of
areas. The classes are held at the Lawrence Virtual School
and include subject such as business math, industrial safety, introductory writing
and other skill building courses. For additional information contact Loralee
Stevens at 913-469-8500.
Lawrence Chamber of Commerce/KU Small
Business
Development
Center
Sponsor Mentoring Program
The Lawrence Chamber of Commerce and the KU Small Business Development Center
hosted Mentoring Program Luncheons in February, 2004. The Mentoring Program Luncheons
kick off the Lawrence Business Mentoring Program, which provides opportunities to
local entrepreneurs to obtain insight and assistance to growing their businesses
through mentoring. The program is provided to entrepreneurs free of cost because
volunteer business leaders provide the mentoring. Those who are interested in becoming
more involved with the program need to contact
Kansas University's Small Business
Development
Center
at (785) 843-8844.
Success By 6
Information Source: Success By 6
Success By 6 is a prevention initiative intended to assure that all children
have the necessary child development and support for a lifetime of growth and achievement.
Success By 6 is an alliance, bringing together all sectors of the community to streamline
and maximize existing services and resources, in order to provide all children,
prenatal to age six, with the necessary early childhood development to enter school
ready to learn and realize a meaningful, self sufficient future. Success by 6 in
Lawrence
recently led a community-wide retreat to focus on early childhood education and
its role with workforce development. For more information call (785) 842.8719.
USD 497 Taskforce
Recently the first annual Business Retention Report was released and
highlighted workforce development issues. On the positive side, businesses rated
workforce productivity and quality of the workforce extremely high. The report did
convey that there is a need for technical and vocational programs to be offered
locally. In response to this report, USD 497 is pursuing the formation of a taskforce
to study the need for technical education in Douglas County. For more information call Heather
Ackerly at 785-865-4427 or hackerly@lawrencechamber.com.
Eudora Career & Technical Education Consortium
Information Source: Greenbush, Southeast Kansas
Education
Center
Eudora recently started offering career and technical education programs. Career
and technical education prepares students for the workforce. The programs provide
hands-on-training and program instructors teach employability skills. This consortium
provides vocational education courses in building trades, culinary arts, auto collision
technology, health care sciences, agriculture, graphic communications and industrial
engineering. The communities of Eudora and
DeSoto, KS work together to provide these programs to
the local area. Eudora is located approximately 6 miles from Lawrence. For more information
go to: http://www.eudoracte.org/
Lawrence Workforce Center
Information Source: Lawrence Workforce
Center
The Lawrence
Workforce
Center is a One-Stop Center
that offers labor market data, provides access to career training and job placement
services and serves as a connection between employers and qualified workers. New
services are being offered to help employers locate the right job candidates. The
Lawrence
Workforce
Center
has the capabilities to list job openings on the Internet as well as screen and
refer applicants. Due to their recent expansion, the Lawrence Workforce
Center can also provide a
meeting space for employers. For more information call (785) 840.9675.
Lawrence
Education Achievement Partners
Information Source: Lawrence
Education Achievement Partners
A strong educational system is the foundation of a prosperous community. Recognizing
this, the Lawrence
Public Schools and the Lawrence
Chamber of Commerce collaborated to form the Lawrence Business/Education Partnership
in 1993. After 10 successful years, they changed the name to Lawrence Education
Achievement Partners (LEAP) to recognize the wide range of organizations committed
to supporting student achievement. LEAP establishes mutually beneficial partnerships
between community businesses/organizations and schools that enrich learning by sharing
knowledge, time and resources. Partnership activities are tailored to the needs
and resources of each school and organization/business. For more information go
to http://www.leapforlawrence.org