|
Iowa Workforce Development employees marched in celebration and commemoration of their colleagues earlier this week, when roughly two dozen military veterans who work at IWD took part in a parade commemorating Veterans Day at the Iowa State Fair.
The march was about both honoring veterans and calling attention to the variety of services that exist to help veterans succeed in Iowa careers, said Beth Townsend, director of Iowa Workforce Development.
Townsend (right, in smaller photo above) was one of 10 Iowa women veterans who were recognized as grand marshals of the parade. Townsend spent 21 years in the U.S. Air Force and Air Force Reserve before retiring as a Lieutenant Colonel.
“IWD is proud to take part in a great event to honor Iowa’s veterans,” she said. “We want veterans to know that our agency values their contributions and that we’re ready to help whenever they’re ready to pursue a new career.”
Click here to continue reading...
|
 IWD visited Homes for Iowa, where formerly incarcerated men from Newton Correctional Facility are gaining work experience in heating, ventilation, and air conditioning (HVAC), plus plumbing, construction, and more while they create homes that qualifying Iowans can purchase. Click above for more details.
|
|
|
The end of summer also means an end to summer internships for students across Iowa.
This includes:
- 11 teenagers from Bellevue and Maquoketa who spent six weeks this summer working as user-experience design interns for four Fortune 500 companies.
- Nearly 70 students from low-income families in the Oakridge Neighborhood of Des Moines who spent the summer working for companies around the metro area.
- And nine students who interned on a farm in West Burlington.
Click the links above to learn more about how each of these communities improved teen lives through summer youth internship grants available through Future Ready Iowa.
Iowa earlier this year awarded $2.26 million to 35 projects across the state that promised to increase opportunities for more than 650 at-risk youth.
|
IowaWORKS, Home Base Iowa, and the Iowa Army National Guard are inviting Iowans to experience the "This and That" of five career paths that bridge the gap between military and civilian life.
A “Hands-On Career Fair” will be held from 1 p.m. to 3 p.m. on September 20 at Camp Dodge in Johnston.
Employers from five high-demand career fields – transportation, construction, telecommunications, law enforcement, and medical/health care – will be on hand to display some of the equipment they use in performing their work. Attendees will be able to view that equipment alongside comparable equipment from the military, demonstrating the close connection between many military and civilian work experiences.
“Iowa National Guard members spend their time in uniform accumulating a wide range of highly valuable skills,” said Jathan Chicoine, program manager for Home Base Iowa. “This event is an opportunity for service members to explore how they get the most out of those skills in the civilian workforce. We also want to remind the public about the wide a variety of meaningful training and skills that you can acquire when you join the military – skills that you can carry with you throughout an entire career.”
For more information on career assistance for veterans, visit www.HomeBaseIowa.gov.
|
|
 More than 25,000 downloads so far by listeners around the world. Ryan West is your guide to a host of workforce programs and people making a difference.
Click to download.
|
|
 School administrators across Iowa are finalizing interviews and administrative procedures this month as the final steps in initiating an innovative new program that’s expected to create more than 1,000 new teachers and paraeducators for Iowa classrooms.
Gov. Kim Reynolds in June awarded $45.6 million in grants that will be shared by 134 school districts across the state. The money will cover educational costs and part of the salaries for more than 500 teachers and 500 paraeducators.
Participants in the Teacher Paraeducator Registered Apprenticeship Pilot Grant Program will earn paychecks for working in Iowa classrooms while they attend their own online classes to obtain formal teaching degrees. High school students will be able to earn an associate’s degree and a paraeducator certificate, while existing paraeducators will be able to work toward a bachelor’s degree and a teaching license.
Educators expect the apprenticeships to create a wave of new entrants into the teaching profession, opening it for the first time to Iowans who lack the resources or the flexibility to leave their hometowns for college.
Click here to continue reading...
|
|
|
|
