Monday, September 14, 2009
Governor lauds new workforce center in Roanoke
Gov. Tim Kaine today described the new Roanoke Valley Workforce Center as Virginia’s first fully comprehensive “one stop” workforce center.
The new center, located near Kmart at Crossroads Mall, opened July 22 but its ribbon cutting ceremony occurred this morning.
It replaces a workforce center sited near Valley View Mall that most people associated primarily with the Virginia Employment Commission.
At the new center, the VEC is one partner among many.
Thus, in addition to filing for unemployment insurance benefits and performing job searches, a visitor can tap a host of resources at the “one-stop” center — with resources ranging from information about housing assistance to details about job training, earning a GED or seeking post-secondary education.
These days, said Kaine, businesses considering a Virginia location ask “more than anything else” about an available, qualified workforce.
“Talent is the most precious commodity in the world,” he said.
Not everyone has gotten the lowdown on the new digs.
Many people have gone first to the previous workforce center on Valley View Boulevard.
The new space is actually smaller by about 10,000 square feet than the former center. The state holds the lease but several “permanent partners” pitch in to help pay the rent.
Goodwill Industries of the Valleys has the contract to operate the center.
Linda Matthews is a regional vice president of workforce development for Goodwill. She said the new space might ideally be bigger but that the “partners really came together and made the best” of the available square footage.
Clay Stein, a senior director of workforce services for Goodwill, agreed.
“Whatever the shortcomings of the building we have made up for it with the integration of services,” he said.
The federal Workforce Investment Act mandates that all federally funded workforce programs cluster in a “one-stop” setting, said Doloris Vest, president of the Western Virginia Workforce Development Board.
The new workforce center includes several partner organizations, ranging from the VEC to Total Action Against Poverty. And it is adjacent to two state agencies, the Virginia Department of Social Services and the Department for the Blind and Visually Impaired.
The new center, located near Kmart at Crossroads Mall, opened July 22 but its ribbon cutting ceremony occurred this morning.
It replaces a workforce center sited near Valley View Mall that most people associated primarily with the Virginia Employment Commission.
At the new center, the VEC is one partner among many.
Thus, in addition to filing for unemployment insurance benefits and performing job searches, a visitor can tap a host of resources at the “one-stop” center — with resources ranging from information about housing assistance to details about job training, earning a GED or seeking post-secondary education.
These days, said Kaine, businesses considering a Virginia location ask “more than anything else” about an available, qualified workforce.
“Talent is the most precious commodity in the world,” he said.
Not everyone has gotten the lowdown on the new digs.
Many people have gone first to the previous workforce center on Valley View Boulevard.
The new space is actually smaller by about 10,000 square feet than the former center. The state holds the lease but several “permanent partners” pitch in to help pay the rent.
Goodwill Industries of the Valleys has the contract to operate the center.
Linda Matthews is a regional vice president of workforce development for Goodwill. She said the new space might ideally be bigger but that the “partners really came together and made the best” of the available square footage.
Clay Stein, a senior director of workforce services for Goodwill, agreed.
“Whatever the shortcomings of the building we have made up for it with the integration of services,” he said.
The federal Workforce Investment Act mandates that all federally funded workforce programs cluster in a “one-stop” setting, said Doloris Vest, president of the Western Virginia Workforce Development Board.
The new workforce center includes several partner organizations, ranging from the VEC to Total Action Against Poverty. And it is adjacent to two state agencies, the Virginia Department of Social Services and the Department for the Blind and Visually Impaired.
