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PRIORITY GOAL #2 <br /> Grow, Enhance, and Better Prepare the Local <br /> Workforce to Meet Current & Future Demands <br /> OVERVIEW:There is an urgent need to develop a more effective approach for preparing and <br /> enlarging the local workforce to meet regional workforce requirements and ensure employers <br /> in all secure the workers they need. <br /> There are numerous agencies in Decatur and Macon County currently providing workforce <br /> development services. But despite a multi-agency commitment to advancing workforce <br /> development, good paying jobs go unfilled due to lack of sufficiently prepared applicants. <br /> The city and its partners should help employers find the labor and the skills they need to be <br /> successful because large employers often make expansion and new development decisions <br /> principally based on the availability of a reliable labor force.The city is committed to <br /> providing its citizens with diverse work opportunities to fit its diverse population. <br /> Key Implementation Strategies: <br /> 1. Move forward with the recommendations from a county-wide study identifying gaps in <br /> the current workforce ecosystem. <br /> 2. Secure grants and formal commitments to fund and participate in more extensive <br /> workforce development training, and enlarging recruiting with trades. <br /> 3. Incorporate changing generational work ethic issues, provide wrap-around services, <br /> remove barriers to employment, help employers with varying work expectations, and <br /> strengthen equity and equality of access into the workforce and motivate people into <br /> sustainable employment situations (Le, resulting higher employee retention rates). <br /> 4. Advance workforce development by stressing Decatur's overall quality of life features <br /> so that employees make long-term decisions about living in Decatur, because it is <br /> important that employees select Decatur as a place to live AND as a place to work. <br /> S. Incentivize new and rehabilitated housing that especially appeals to younger workers, <br /> and other strategies to attract and retain more workers to Decatur. <br /> Page 14 <br />