Central Eastside gathered to talk about Workforce Development over lunch. Thanks to our non-profit speakers Shannon Singleton of JOIN and Clay Cooper of Central City Concern. Thanks to our panelists Emma Pelett of City Liquidators/Portland Night Market, Lou Harrison of Wentworth Chevy-Subaru,  John Hintzke of Portland Bottling Company, Andy Reed of Prosper Portland, and Marc Goldberg of Portland Community College. A special thanks to Jesse Aronson of Worksystems who co-moderated with CEIC’s Interim Executive Juliana Lukasik.  You can find out more from the panel and a list of resources for Workforce Development by clicking here.

Issues that were addressed included: the lack of interest in manufacturing jobs in younger generations and the need to make it more appealing, the desire of the younger workforce to find socially responsible employers, current low unemployment numbers and difficulty finding skilled labor, and the price of housing impacting those in less skilled labor jobs

Workforce Resource list 

JOIN www.joinpdx.org

Central City Concern www.centralcityconcern.org

Worksystems www.worksystems.org

SE Works www.seworks.org

Prosper Portland www.prosperportland.us (formerly PDC)

PCC Climb Center  www.pcc.edu/climb