Alabama’s workforce topic of chamber luncheon

Alabama’s Deputy Secretary of Commerce of the Workforce Development Division, Ed Castile, was the featured speaker at Wednesday’s Shelby Chamber Community Luncheon held at the Pelham Civic Complex.

Castile, who has also been the Director of Alabama Industrial Development Training (AIDT) in 1993, addressed the attendees with a presentation titled “Developing Alabama’s Workforce.” Many in the audience were business owners, and Castile said they understand the challenges of replacing and adding employees in the workforce.

“The good news is that we have a good workforce here in the state of Alabama,” Castile said. “Many of the companies that have moved here in the last 25 years have continued to grow and expand, and they couldn’t have done that if they couldn’t find the workforce for their business.”

He mentioned the Strong Start, Strong Finish education initiative created by Gov. Kay Ivey, which focuses on three stages of education: early childhood education, computer science in middle school and high school and workforce preparedness. Castile also discussed Gov. Ivey’s Success Plus campaign, which has a goal for the state to add half a million skilled employees to its workforce by 2025.

“With Gov. Ivey, failure is not an option, and we are working hard every day,” Castile said. “Because we have done some good work, we almost have everyone who wants to work in Alabama who wants to be working.”

Apprenticeship programs have been put in place, which will provide intense on-the-job training to help workers learn and move up the skill track.

Castile said the AIDT can assist manufacturing, distribution and tech companies in recruiting, training and hiring employees, and help them filter the process to find the right person for the job. He said they are currently working on 141 projects in 40 counties and are looking for over 31,000 people.

The alabamaworks.com website is a portal for both companies seeking workforce assistance, training programs, leadership development and more. Castile said with a few clicks, both businesses and individuals can find the answers to the questions they have.

“If you need to hire and need help from the Department of Commerce, we will help you,” Castile said.

Shelby County Manager, Alex Dudchock, said that Castile has stepped up where others in state leadership in the past had not, doing it from the top down.

“We appreciate him, and it’s nice having someone not just staying at the top level of the department, but helping us to make improvements,” he said.

Dudchock explained how the chamber is involved in career readiness programs in Shelby County schools. They, along with 58 Inc. and the Central Six Development Council, have been meeting on a regular basis to collaborate ways to help each other.

With the career readiness program, they have partnered with schools and met with over 1800 ninth grade students and 1600 eleventh grade students to assist with financial literacy and soft skills training. Next year, they are launching two new programs, a ready to work program for twelfth-graders and a career clusters program for tenth-graders.

The next Chamber Connections Luncheon will be 11:30 a.m. Thursday, April 4 at Columbiana First Baptist Church.