ResCare Workforce Services is using about $300,000 this year to target out-of-school youth in Bowling Green and the region for training to prepare them for jobs.

On Tuesday afternoon, RWS Director Victor Ponder updated the new Youth Council of the South Central Workforce Development Board on the process. The Youth Council held its first meeting at the Med Center Health boardroom in Bowling Green and a chairman is being sought from the membership, said Workforce Board Chairman Ron Sowell.

The regional workforce board is about the only one in Kentucky that is still empowering a youth council, Ponder said. RWS is the direct service provider for the workforce board.

When the requirement for a youth council was dropped as the federal legislation changed from the Workforce Investment Act (WIA) to the Workforce Innovation and Opportunity Act (WIOA), workforce boards in Kentucky dropped the idea of setting up youth councils, Ponder said.

Sowell said the local region still needs a youth council.

“Our expenditures for youth are for the future – five to 10 years of programming,” Sowell told the council members. “As an employer we see it as a benefit.” 

Sowell is vice president for Med Center Health, the new marketing brand of Commonwealth Health Corporation. Med Center Health is the region’s third-largest employer.

RWS employees are recruiting people from 14 different types of organizations including housing authorities, drug courts, jails, seniors who will be out-of-school youth in May, at Community Action of Southern Kentucky offices, Adult Education programs, Family Enrichment centers, laundromats, malls, Boys & Girls Clubs, the YMCA, through the 10 county judge-executives in the region and through asking around in the communities.

Thirty-five youth are enrolled in training; an additional 33 individuals are seeking employment or are ready to exit training; 16 are active in Job Corps; and six other people are being prepared for the state’s new Work Experience Program.

The 90-client youth caseload breakdown by counties: Allen, 5; Barren, 4; Butler, 1; Edmonson, 17 (16 with Job Corps); Hart, 5; Logan, 13; Metcalfe, 1; Monroe, 4; Simpson, 8; and Warren, 32. Seventy-five percent of the WIOA funding under law must be spent on out-of-school youth age 18 to 24. The remainder can be spent on youth programs in the public schools.

The council members also heard from Meredith Robinson, chief operating officer of the Bowling Green Area Chamber of Commerce, on the chamber’s career exploration program SCK Launch, held last fall at the National Corvette Museum Motorsports Park for eighth-graders in city and county schools.

The chamber identified seven sectors where local jobs are needed: construction, health care, hospitality, manufacturing, professional services, public services and transportation. A curriculum was then developed for the students to explore careers before attending the event at the motor sports park.

The chamber will hold another job and service fair in May and this summer will hold programs for local educators at businesses. The May event will be expanded from this year’s 1,700 students to about 3,400, Robinson said.

Robinson said the goal is to have students, beginning in the seventh grade, explore careers that can lead to meaningful employment in the region.

The chamber estimates there are 13,000 open jobs in those seven sectors throughout the region.

— Follow business reporter Charles A. Mason on Twitter @BGDNbusiness or visit bgdailynews.com.