ACT - Work Ready Communities
The Council Bluffs Area Chamber of Commerce formed a local work-ready committee. Together we worked to certify Pottawattamie County as a Work Ready Community.
Child Care Ready & 21st Century ClubsÂ
Child Care Resource and Referral has new and FREE training program, "Child Care Ready." The CB Chamber set up an introduction meeting with CCR&R and the 21st Century Clubs to discuss the possibility of opening the program up to high school students to assist them in getting a secondary training in child care.
ConnectGo Getting to Work ProjectÂ
The ConnectGO Getting to Work survey project helps employers understand how their employees commute to work and identify barriers and opportunities. Due to generous funding from the Iowa West Foundation, Nebraska Environmental Trust, and the Nebraska Department of Transportation, this project is no cost to employers.
The Council Bluffs Area Chamber of Commerce has assisted the surveying company, Verdis Group, in identifying potential participants and setting up project introduction meetings.
Home Base Iowa
The CB Chamber was a part of the original committee that worked to get Council Bluffs certified as a Home Base city. We continue to work with Home Base Iowa to provide veterans with local resources and employment.
Pottawattamie County Veteran Relocation Incentive
Veterans are a talent pipeline of skilled and motivated workers, that our community needs to start actively recruiting. Through a collaboration with Home Based Iowa and Pottawattamie County Veteran Affairs Office, Pottawattamie County now has a $2,500 veteran relocation incentive to offer. Couple this incentive with the state of Iowa's $5,000 incentive, and a veteran could potentially receive up to $7,500 for relocation to Pottawattamie County.
To learn about more veteran resources please visit our Veteran Resource page.
Business and Workforce Recovery Task Force
In March of 2020, at the start of the pandemic, the Council Bluffs Area Chamber of Commerce created a biweekly virtual meeting of key community leaders and stakeholders to provide the most timely information possible regarding the impact of the pandemic and the resources available to assist public, private, and nonprofit organizations. By bringing the most impacted organizations, and our community leaders, together, the Chamber was able to ensure we were at the forefront of information sharing and that our community leaders were all receiving the same information on a regular basis. Chambers by nature are depositories of information, and the Business and Workforce Recovery task Force enabled the open sharing of this information for the good of the entire community.
Community-Based Projects Coordination
In March, we were informed that community projects or earmarks would once again be made available for qualified public and nonprofit projects throughout the community. With the Chamber being a natural convener and conduit, we were able to bring all stakeholders together on multiple occasions to assist in vetting and submitting the best projects possible.
Ultimately, the group settled on three projects to support, but perhaps even more importantly, we assembled a group that can continue to vet major projects going forward. With a slew of federal resources being made available, having these stakeholders unified will be critically important and the Chamber has been happy to play a role in doing so with our many other partners.
Council Bluffs Community School Districts - Youth Leadership Council Bluffs
The Council Bluffs Community School District (CBCSD) is a valuable partner with the Council Bluffs Area Chamber of Commerce to ensure the success of our Youth Leadership Council Bluffs (YLCB) program. CBCSD, through their access to school buses, provides the transportation for students during the YLCB sessions. In exchange for their partnership, CB Chamber accepts additional students from the CBCSD into the program each year.
Leadership Council Bluffs/Youth Leadership Council Bluffs & Leadership Council Bluffs Alumni Association
Leadership Council Bluffs Alumni Association (LCBAA) a seperate 501c3 organization and partners with the Council Bluffs Area Chamber of Commerce to provide volunteers for the selection committees, curriculum committees, session volunteers, and interview volunteers. The LCBAA hosts a welcome reception for the new LCB class each year. In addition, the LCBAA offer scholarships each year for qualified candidates for Leadership CB program.
Workforce Innovation and Opportunity Act
CONNECTIONS
WIOA services are funded by the United States Department of Labor in an effort to ensure that every Iowan has unrestricted access to high-quality workforce delivery systems. WIOA works with Iowans to assist in job search and placement, skills assessments, career information, skill-enhancing workshops, training services HiSet, and placing them with employers that are willing to provide on-the-job training. WIOA can potentially fund up to 50% of a client's wages for up six months. Financial assistance helps employers hire and train non-experiences workers without all of the risk and cost of turn-over.
The Council Bluffs Area Chamber of Commerce assisted WIOA by connecting them to area businesses actively seeking to hire for high demand positions. As well as, promoting their program to job seekers, through their job seeker e-newsletter.