Operations Task Force looks at seeking grants

Meeting examines area's skilled labor shortage Friday

COLUMBIA BASIN - The Operations Task Force is receiving an update on grants Friday morning.

The task force meets at 8 a.m. to discuss the latest efforts to recruit employees into the area. They meet in Big Bend Community College's ATEC Building.

On the agenda is an update of an Industry Skills Panel grant and a Perkins grant.

"The Industry Skills Panel grant is a source for funds to help coordinate all the activities of the operations task force," explained Allan Peterson, executive director of the community college's Center for Business and Industry Services.

The task force applied for the Perkins grant to obtain funding for a marketing document for the Columbia Basin to help transition youth from high school to local technical professional employment, Peterson said.

The meeting also includes identification of subcommittees and chairs and scheduling sub committee meetings, as well as following up on task items from the last task force meeting.

"We want to redefine subcommittees and action items to go forward," Peterson said.

The meeting is open to the public and in need of more members.

"We are experiencing a skilled labor shortage in the state of Washington, nationwide and especially in the Grant County area," Peterson explained. "We are bucking the trend, the country and the state, as far as we're still in a growth phase. With the addition of people like Guardian, they're going to require more people, so the recruiting and training and providing a skilled work force is very important, and it's a real problem."

For more information, contact Peterson at 509-793-2374.