I have been spending my summer working at the Center of Workforce Innovations (CWI) here in Valpo. In essence, CWI is a non-profit organization that works to promote workforce development. A little over 15 years ago, a federal initiative was passed that mandated that each state was to create Workforce Development programs meant to educate the workforce and help develop career paths for future job seekers to pursue. CWI is an organization that receives funding to help manage the service provider WorkOne, which is a community career center that offers a variety of services to help people become gainfully employed.
CWI has received a grant entitled READY NWI that provides funding to help with the mission of Workforce Development. Most of the work I have done has been for the this project. My introduction to the world of workforce certainly has been a whirlwind experience. Almost every day I hear and learn about new acronyms, titles, or programs, that are all somehow related. Each person also has a hand in every project two; I often find two people that I would never expect to work together, surprisingly have a role in each other’s projects and work together. Slowly but surely, I am learning how it all ties together, and seeing the systematic changes that are taking place to essentially help promote more rewarding employment.
Among many opportunities, I have had the opportunity to shadow my supervisor as she does her work. Much of what she does consists of working with employers in the region to see what their needs are in terms of expanding, recruitment, as well as a variety of other services. She has taken me to a countless number of sites and employers, and I have learned more about the economic opportunities in the region than I ever thought existed.
One very unique component of this experience has been assisting with the completion of employer videos for the READY project that highlight the career paths of various people in companies within the region. Just yesterday, I spent all day traveling around with local videographers as they interviewed contract electricians at a variety of locations, trying to capture how they got to where they are today, and what steps they had to take, and the things that they learned.
It is hard to believe how fast this summer has gone, and how I have such very little time left at my internships (only 3 weeks!). But in this short amount of time, I have learned things that I had no idea that I would, and gained skills that I know will be invaluable as I continue down my journey to find that good old calling of mine. Who knows that the rest of the summer will have in store for me!
– Aaron