RCEDA 8.5x11 Report d3

Riverside County Workforce Development Board Southwest Business Summit The WDB’s Southwest Regional Committee held its first Southwest Business Summit on March 14, 2018, in Temecula, CA. The Committee seeks to promote the work they do and services they provide in their region to businesses through Workforce Development Centers, in collaboration with partners like the California Employment Development Department (EDD), Department of Rehabilitation (DOR) and Mt. San Jacinto College (MSJC), among others. Charles Henkels, Apprenticeships Director from Norco College was the keynote speaker along with Leslie Trainor, Deputy Director of the Riverside County WDB. They spoke on the importance of apprenticeships which can be customized to fill business needs and the role the WDB plays as convener to connect businesses with resources, people and education. A regional perspective panel was comprised of Thomas Flournoy, Employment Division Chief, EDD, Jenny Hughes, Career Technical Education Outreach Coordinator, MSJC and Robert Loeun, District Administrator, DOR. They provided information about the services and resources each of their agencies offers, and the benefits they provide to businesses. The summit had business testimonials from: Angel Sanchez, Phenix Technology Inc.; Rafael Cano, New Hub Automotive; and Rose Corona, Big Horse Feed. Each of these representatives spoke about the WIOA business services and resources their companies received and how they helped their businesses prosper and how they promote the services and resources to other businesses. The productive networking session after the event along with the surveys collected demonstrated the quality of the event and the useful takeaways.

RiversideCountyWorkforceDevelopment Board Eastern RegionWorkforce Summit The Eastern Regional WDB created the Valley-Wide Workforce Summit to market Workforce Development services and to highlight our Business Services. The focus for the Fourth Annual Valley Wide Workforce Summit was the hospitality industry, one of the eastern region’s most in-demand industries. We worked with One Future Coachella Valley to coordinate the education component and with the Greater Palm Springs Convention and Visitors Bureau and other hospitality groups to connect to the business community. These business and education panels provided attendees with advice, information and resources. The summit had 120 attendees, including students fromCollege of the Desert’s Culinary Department and the three district academy programs. Resource booths available at the summit includedWDB, East Valley Coalition, California State University San Bernardino PalmDesert, academy programs from local school districts and several other organizations.

29

www. r i v c o e d a . o r g