Business opportunities grow

MAT-SU -- The Mat-Su Borough now holds the keys to the potential work careers of thousands of Valley residents.

Several people involved in, or who have benefited from, the Workforce Investment Act spoke at last week's Mat-Su Borough Assembly meeting in favor of authorizing the assembly to handle WIA funding for programs that serve Valley residents.

Tammy Carr, a spokesperson at the meeting for HRC, was one of several to address the assembly. HRC is a company that, under a contract set to run through next year, operates several aspects of the four-pronged program.

The assembly agreed at the meeting to accept and administer nearly $1.3 million in WIA funds -- with more on the way. Carr said that money will go to assist a significant number of Valley residents. More than 1,700 people used the Mat-Su One Stop job center last year. Of that number, nearly 900 were unemployed.

"It is our intent to use these funds and coordinate them with the Small Business Development Center as well as the college," Duffy said, "… and design programs that will help attract new businesses to the borough."

Duffy said Friday that the ability to administer the funds locally will give the borough more control over how the money is spent. Before the appropriation, money was allocated to the WIA program in Anchorage and distributed from there to the WIA resources in the Valley -- the One Stop center, a few satellite offices and administrative offices, mostly located in Wasilla. Duffy hopes the borough will be able to expand the program to better meet the needs of residents.

"It means that we will be able to work with the private sector and the education community to tailor training programs to private sector needs," Duffy said. "We're hoping to get this into the libraries and transform them into lifelong learning centers and little economic development centers."

Duffy envisioned workforce training or video conferencing held at libraries around the borough. He said although no plans are put on paper at this point, preparation work has already begun. And because WIA is a multi-year program, improvements can be made incrementally.

"We're … upgrading the broad bandwidth going into libraries," Duffy said, "and I'm going to get back into where video-conferencing was -- we were doing some of that, but it kind of died on the vine."

Meanwhile, Janice Tatlow, the HRC program manager, said services at the Resource Room at the Westside Center in Wasilla will not change.

"All the services under WIA will continue," Tatlow said. Clients will still be able to stop in at the Resource Room and take classes, get assistance building a resumŽ, or get help with job training or education.

Angela Clark, a Mat-Su School District teacher, said she was able to overcome a huge obstacle, thanks to the WIA -- then known as the JTPA or THIS.

"A few years ago, I was in a position to finish my four-year degree, and I had a very real financial barrier," Clark said.

She went through an interview process at the JTPA office, was approved, and received funding for both her tuition and educational materials. As a result, she said, she stayed in the area and has, for three years been a teacher here.

Duffy said administering the program could be a real boon to economic development at the borough. He mentioned North Star Behavioral Systems, who is looking into building a facility in the Meadow Lakes area. The company has expressed an interest in hiring local residents to work at the facility. Duffy said if the company found there were not enough people in the area with training in a specific type of position, funds could be allocated to help train area residents to fill those positions.

Ruth DeCamp, division manager for the WIA program, said the Valley has always had a say in how the money was spent -- six people on the 18-member Workforce Development Board are from the Mat-Su. She agreed that the administration of the funds will give the borough more autonomy, and said it was something that could have been done earlier.

"In the past, I don't know if Mat-Su has ever expressed an interest in running the program," DeCamp said. She said talks began after Duffy took his position as borough manager.

Soon, there was a joint meeting between Duffy, Borough Mayor Tim Anderson, Anchorage Mayor George Wuerch and Manager Harry Kieling, DeCamp said, and everyone agreed it was time to allow the two entities to administer their funds separately.

The funding was divided according to a formula that took into account each area's poverty and unemployment levels. DeCamp said approximately one-third of the funding that comes into Anchorage will be funneled off to Mat-Su -- along with a lot of technical assistance.

DeCamp agreed the move made sense.

"Out here, the needs may be different than in Anchorage," DeCamp said. "I'm thrilled that the borough is interested in setting its own course in this."

DeCamp added that the Anchorage WIA will be watching closely how Mat-Su implements its funds -- especially in the more remote areas. She said while Anchorage's WIA program has six job centers across the city, Girdwood remains unserved. If the rural programs take off in Mat-Su, she said, there's a chance the program will implement the ideas in Girdwood.

"We're going to be watching," DeCamp said.