Chamber recognized for workforce initiative

YOUNGSTOWN

The Youngstown/Warren Regional Chamber’s JobsNow Workforce initiative received recognition from the Mid-America Economic Development Council at its annual Competitiveness Conference and Site Selector Forum in Chicago.

The MAEDC, which comprises economic development professionals/members in 12 Midwest states, honored the chamber’s initiative as the first-place winner in the 2018 Economic Development Awards’ Workforce Development category. The category included “activities and/or innovative programs to attract new workforce to an area, strengthen the skills of the existing workforce or encourage retention of youth in an area.”

The initiative was created in 2016 to help close the gap between the demand for skilled labor and the supply of workforce-ready employees in the Mahoning Valley by publicizing available jobs, connecting qualified workers to those positions and attracting talent to the area. 

Sarah Boyarko, the chamber’s chief operating officer and senior vice president of economic development, said, “It’s always an honor to be recognized by your peers for a job well done. We’ve heard what our company decision makers and human resource directors have to say about their workforce experiences as employers, and in response, we created JobsNow in an effort to mitigate their ongoing challenges. The program has been well received, and we look forward to taking it to the next level in 2019.”