Our Spotlight! is shining brightly on KRA Program Manager Pamela Carnes and her team that proudly operate the Alameda County Business Development Group (ACBDG), on behalf of the Alameda County Workforce Investment Board (ACWIB). Pamela’s article, Alameda County Helps Companies Improve Bottom Line, reported:
“Every KRA employee can recite our corporate mission: we prepare jobseekers for today’s global economy and supply employers with a trained and reliable workforce. However, functioning as an employer-services hub project, we focus our efforts more on the second part of the mission than the first.
Our WIA- and TANF-sister programs enroll the jobseeker as the primary customer, but the ACBDG enrolls the employer! So, we adopted a business mindset…a strategic vision to provide a full scope of services that promote productivity, profitability, and peace-of-mind, by addressing the employment and growth needs of Alameda County employers.
Home to more than 1.5 million people in 14 incorporated cities, including Berkeley and Oakland; six unincorporated communities and rural areas throughout an 813 square- mile region; 17 school districts; and 10 colleges and universities, Alameda County is an exciting place to learn, live, and work, and we are proud to be part of the process that contributes to the success of its business community.
Hannah Bell and Jonathan Overall, our Business Services Consultants, employ a genuine collaborative approach to assessing each business-customer’s workforce needs. Similar to the way a KRA Career Agent develops an Individual Employment Plan with a jobseeker-customer, the BSCs create Customized Service Plans with our employer-customers, make formal connections with the proper developmental resources, and maintain relationships in which we become an integral partner of the employer’s business development team.”
KRA Data Analyst Kurt Zevas, added, “As the ACWIB’s business engagement arm, we assist businesses in accessing and utilizing the Board’s core and training services, job postings, candidate screenings, OJTs, on-site recruitments, etc. To date, we’ve promoted more than 230 job openings, with a conservative estimated savings of $45,000, as some of our employers are spending an average of $3,500 a month on advertising fees alone!”
Pamela concluded, “We are fortunate to be the ‘hub’ of a system that aggressively engages the participation and support of Business Roundtables; Chambers of Commerce; Colleges, Universities, and Technical Schools; Economic Development Councils; One-Stops; Trade Associations; Youth Services Providers; and more, to advance the current success of the Alameda County business community, which in turn ensures the future success of the entire County.”
