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Tag Archives: Talent Solutions

Black Hawk County Supervisors Approve Resolution to Become Home Base Iowa Community

WATERLOO, IOWA (February 20, 2018) – The Black Hawk County Board of Supervisors this morning unanimously voted to approve a resolution supporting the county as a Home Base Iowa community.

The statewide Home Base Iowa initiative connects veterans and transitioning service members and their families with careers and resources available through partner organizations and businesses. The vision is to create Iowa as the veterans’ “State of Choice” for employment, education, or continued service.

The Greater Cedar Valley Alliance & Chamber has applied for the designation on behalf of the county.

“As a regional organization that has relationships with businesses throughout our county, applying for this designation made sense,” said Cassie Grimsman, Business Services Coordinator.

Grimsman has secured incentives for veterans who would choose to move to Black Hawk County for a job opening through the program.

The team at Iowa WORKS of Waterloo has been working to register businesses with Home Base Iowa. After a business is registered, it can post job openings to recruit transitioning service members and veterans. Those not yet on the list may apply on the initiative’s statewide website.

The Black Hawk County list includes 43 Home Base Iowa businesses, which is five above the minimum requirement of 38, or 10 percent of the county’s businesses that are currently hiring. Grimsman contacted the county Veterans Affairs office and learned of additional incentives to list.

Grimsman also worked with Iowa Department of Transportation to determine locations for signage. Signs noting the county’s Home Base Iowa Community designation will be placed at five regional locations: one each in or near Denver, New Hartford, Voorhies, and La Porte City and south of Waterloo on Highway 21.

The supervisor’s action on Tuesday morning put Black Hawk County one step closer to being designated as a Home Base Iowa Community. The next step in the process is for Home Base Iowa to approve Black Hawk County’s application at the state level. Then, a community event will be held this spring to recognize Black Hawk County as a new Home Base Iowa Community.

A benefit to partner businesses is the option to post available jobs on the Home Base Iowa site to attract veterans who are searching for work.

“It opens up another pool of qualified applicants who are looking for employment through Home Base Iowa’s site. Because we have an incentive package as a county, it gives our businesses a leg up to recruit veterans to work in Black Hawk County,” Grimsman said.

The public-private partnership began in 2014 after the Iowa Legislature passed the HBI Act which provides a variety of incentives including homeowner assistance and in-state tuition for eligible U.S. veterans and their families. For more information about Home Base Iowa, visit https://www.homebaseiowa.gov.

To learn more about the program in Black Hawk County, contact Cassie Grimsman via email at cgrimsman@cedarvalleyalliance.com or by calling the Alliance & Chamber office at 319-232-1156.

Download the Press Release.

5 on Friday: Fuel for Thought November 3, 2017

by Steve Dust, CEO, Greater Cedar Valley Alliance & Chamber

Fuel for Thought What's Steve Dust Reading this Week? November 3, 2017

 

 

 

 

 

One: Cedar Valley in Top 100 Places to Start a Biz

The website How to Start an LLC has ranked U.S. metros where it’s easiest to start a business, according to their matrix. The criteria, plus the entire list, is available at this link.

Top Cities to Start a Business, How to Start an LLC, 2017

Two: Your Comment Needed — Future Ready Iowa

I recently linked the Future Ready Iowa Alliance board’s website in this space. The recommendations to achieve 70 percent of the Iowa workforce holding post-secondary credentials are listed there. Your comments are needed. Are the goals on the right track?

Comment on the page at this link: Future Ready Iowa Alliance Final Recommendations

Three: Iowa’s Leading Indicators

The Iowa Department of Revenue publishes a monthly report. Spoiler alert for September: Industrials are good, Ag, not so good.

Iowa Leading Indicators Index September 2017 Report, Iowa Department of Revenue, September 2017

Four: Which Cities Are Attracting Tech Talent?

We’re learning how to attract talented people, as well as businesses to the Cedar Valley. This is an article that features some attributes of (much larger) places where tech-specific talent is willing to go. It’s a slide show, see button at top of web site.

5 U.S. Cities Luring Tech Talent Away From Silicon Valley, Entrepreneur, October 31, 2017

Five: What is a Smart City?

And in the vein of “what does it take,” the talent equation fundamentally depends on quality of place. This is a long think piece by someone paid to think about how to connect a complex system – a city – to meaningful data and information. The role of data, ignored as a frill by many, is essential to the city’s ability to thrive as a service deliverer and keeper of place. For those who volunteer countless hours over many years to improve their cities, and those in city government in any way, this is a good article to crunch through.

The Search for a Theory of Cities, Colin Harrison, Meeting of the Minds, November 2, 2017

GREATER CEDAR VALLEY ALLIANCE & CHAMBER TO HOLD FORUM ON WORKFORCE ISSUES

The Alliance & Chamber will host a forum to engage area business and institutions to address talent and workforce challenges in the Cedar Valley.  Addressing Workforce: Beyond the Numbers is for employers, educators, service organizations and other workforce partners to be held Thursday, September 29th from 7:30 -11:30am at the National Cattle Congress Pavilion, Waterloo.

Recent data compiled by the Alliance & Chamber projects that businesses in the Cedar Valley will need 12,000 additional workers in the next 10 years while, at the same time, the working-age population is expected to decrease.

During the forum, business leaders from a cross-section of industries will facilitate three separate discussion tracks. Human resource professionals, business managers from all industries, education leaders, and service providers who support business with workforce needs are encouraged to participate in the most relevant discussion track.

The three tracks include:

  1. Labor Force Participation (utilizing our existing population)
  2. Training & Education (training the future workforce)
  3. Talent Attraction & Retention (attracting new & retaining existing workforce)

The interactive format will provide opportunities for new connections, partnerships, peer-to-peer learning and a deeper understanding of how to collaborate in addressing our workforce needs for today and the future.

A light breakfast will be served at 7:30am.  The event is free. Registration is requested through the Alliance & Chamber website www.cedarvalleyalliance.com by September 16.

For more information on this event and the Talent Solutions initiatives of the Alliance & Chamber contact Danny Laudick by calling 319-232-1156 or by email to dlaudick@cedarvalleyalliance.com.

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GREATER CEDAR VALLEY ALLIANCE & CHAMBER TO HOLD FORUM ON WORKFORCE ISSUES

The Alliance & Chamber will host a forum to engage area business and institutions to address talent and workforce challenges in the Cedar Valley.  Addressing Workforce: Beyond the Numbers is for employers, educators, and workforce partners to be held Thursday, September 29th from 7:30 -11:30am at the National Cattle Congress Pavilion, Waterloo.

Recent data compiled by the Alliance & Chamber projects that businesses in the Cedar Valley will need 12,000 additional workers in the next 10 years while, at the same time, the working-age population is expected to decrease.

During the forum, business leaders from a cross-section of industries will facilitate three separate discussion tracks. Human resource professionals, business managers from all industries, education leaders, and service providers who support business with workforce needs are encouraged to participate in the most relevant discussion track.

The three tracks include:

  1. Labor Force Participation (utilizing our existing population)
  2. Training & Education (training the future workforce)
  3. Talent Attraction & Retention (attracting new & retaining existing workforce)

The interactive format will provide opportunities for new connections, partnerships, peer-to-peer learning and a deeper understanding of how to collaborate in addressing our workforce needs for today and the future.

A light breakfast will be served at 7:30am.  The event is free. Registration is requested through the Alliance & Chamber website www.cedarvalleyalliance.com by September 16.

For more information on this event and the Talent Solutions initiatives of the Alliance & Chamber contact Danny Laudick by calling 319-232-1156 or by email to dlaudick@cedarvalleyalliance.com.

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