Community forum to be held to help individuals get jobs

PIERCE COUNTY, Wash. — Don’t have a high school diploma or GED? Not in school and not working?

No problem. There are employment resources in this area to help put you on a path toward earning a livable wage.

A community forum Wednesday (Oct. 17) will explain how the Pierce County Workforce Development Council aims to help individuals seeking work, with the hope of building a more talented and educated employee pipeline to fill area jobs.

In a release, the council said it “has identified two important groups: young adults who are not working and are not in school, and adults without a high school diploma or equivalent. Our goal is to effectively address the barriers these individuals face in accessing education and training and finding meaningful work that provides a living wage.”

The council said it wants “to hear from members of the community who are interested in learning about how we plan to prepare local people for local jobs.”

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The discussion will follow a presentation of the draft employment strategic plan, which lists two goals to reach by 2025:

▪ Reduce the number of “disconnected” young adults (those neither working nor in school), ages 16 to 24, by half, to 7,650 from 15,300.

▪ Reduce the number of residents between the ages of 25 to 64 without a high school diploma or a GED by half, to 19,237 from 38,475.

Wednesday’s sessions will be from 11 a.m.-12:30 p.m. and 3:30-5 p.m. at 3650 S. Cedar St., Tacoma.

Other recent, local employment updates:

▪ WorkForce Central last week unveiled its new jobs board that is specific to Pierce County.

▪ A meeting Oct. 24 will help introduce people to construction careers with Sound Transit. The meeting will be from 6-8 p.m. at the Tacoma campus of The Evergreen State College, 1210 Sixth Ave.

KIRO