Here we are, in a tight labor
market,
where you hear employers saying that
they can't
get the skills that you need.
And at the same time,
you know,
you have families saying that they
can't afford
all of their basic expenses.
We have to fill that gap,
and that's where SNAP E&T comes
in.
The colleges do a wonderful job
of working with employers,
and saying "what do you need
us to teach?"
And then teach them,
and then hook them up
with employment.
I managed a phone store for
about four years.
The family I worked for,
they ended up selling the business.
So my hours were cut
dramatically. I had a young child.
So I kind of thought,
you know, "what's the best route for
me
at this point?".
Jamie started
with us in the CNA program,
and she has just
been phenomenal to work
with along the way.
And it is just so great to see her
progression.
People that come into our Center
want to work.
It's not that we don't want
to do anything,
and we want food assistance because
we want to sit at home.
We just need to be able to feed our
families while
we're trying to do better for
ourselves
too.
I talk to employers all the time
that say
"we need people, we need people,
where are they at?".
Well they're here.
We just have to support them
and help them get to the point
where they need to be at,
to enter into those open
jobs and those positions that
are very difficult to fill
right now in our economy.
Here at GMT Corporation,
we've been in production machining
now for 20 years.
John Deere and Caterpillar are our
two main
customers in the production
facility.
There's a lot of machinists here
that are going to be retiring in the
next 10 years,
five years.
And it's going to open up a lot of
opportunities
for guys like Daniel,
coming in here and learning how to
run
the machines, and,
you know, there's also management
positions.
I've been employed at GMT for seven
months now.
When I started I started off on a
one man cell,
training with a veteran guy.
And now I'm in a two man cell,
with seven machines.
Manufacturing, I.T.,
health care.
Those are big career pathway areas
that we focus within our program
and at the college.
There are a ton of opportunities.
There's just so many places that
need nurses.
The
opportunity that we're providing
with job training programs that are
supported
by SNAP E&T funding
is an opportunity for people to gain
both the professional skills,
as well as the technical skills,
get that job,
and then continue developing that
job.
Having the job at Nordstrom's has
allowed me to provide
for myself, provide for others,
and just be self-sufficient.
All of our participants, and this
year we
will have nearly 500 participants,
will have had an opportunity to
learn
in a real operating business.
And so that transition into
their new role,
when they are employed by an
employer
in our community,
is much easier.
The SNAP E&T program is doing
a couple of different things to help
out the economy.
One is the immediate
resource of people:
that human power that
businesses are getting.
Those people are also not only
spending
more, but spending more time in
their communities.
And our businesses can then expand
beyond what they currently have too,
and hire even more people,
which is great for the local
economy,
and great for the state.
As we look across the state of
Washington,
and there are SNAP E&T programs in
every
single county in the state of
Washington,
we have seen this tremendous
movement
in terms of employment
and income earning power.
So why not invest
and who we have here
and help them help
us as a community?
