DeKalb County affords business and industry comprehensive workforce development services of and has initiated career development programs to recruit and train workers for current and future jobs.
Kishwaukee College Adult Education Fall 2016
This fall, Kishwaukee College offers courses in High School Equivalency and English Language Acquisition. Follow the links for more information.
English Language Acquisition (ELA) & Spanish GED
English Language Acquisition (ELA) & Spanish GED (Spanish)
Read ALL about it!
DeKalb-Ogle Workforce Development Consortium
DeKalb and Ogle County businesses and educators have joined forces to establish a new industrial workforce career development program and launch an interactive online program connecting employers with students.
On February 23, 2016, the DeKalb Ogle Workforce Development Consortium hosted another successful “Assemble Ur Career” tour with students from DeKalb, Genoa-Kingston, Rochelle, and Sycamore high schools. Approximately 85 students had opportunities to visit and tour local businesses and NIU’s College of Engineering to expose them to a variety of educational and career paths.
Read the full article from The Daily Chronicle: Area students visit area companies, explore job opportunities.
Industrial Workforce Coordination Pilot Program
After convening two “Industrial Workforce Development for Today and Tomorrow” summit meetings, an action plan has been embraced a by a broad group of people representing education and industry. The purpose of this action plan is to show students what types of industrial careers are available, to teach them the required skills, provide them with workplace experience, and to clarify how qualified and motivated individuals can attain careers in advanced manufacturing and industry that are financially rewarding and satisfy the need for accomplishment.
Educators and industry partners from DeKalb and Ogle Counties, all within the Kishwaukee College District, recommended the creation of a Pilot Program with a full-time Career Development Coordinator to facilitate establishing and conducting career development activities. These activities include including school business presentations, company visits and tours, job shadowing, internships, work study programs and apprenticeships.
At the summit meetings, working committees were established to address the following priorities: Soft Skills, Hard Skills/Basic Skills, Career Paths/Work Place Expectations, Education and Industry Communication/Collaboration, and Marketing Today’s Industrial Opportunities.
Participants in the Industrial Workforce Development Summit Meetings included: DeKalb, Sycamore, Rochelle, Genoa/Kingston Schools and KEC; Kishwaukee College, Waubonsee Community College and Northern Illinois University; a broad base of industry representatives, the DeKalb and Sycamore Chambers of Commerce, the cities of DeKalb and Sycamore; and the Greater Rochelle Economic Development Corporation.
A steering committee was charged with hiring an Industrial Workforce Coordinator for the Pilot Program in time for the beginning of the school year. After screening candidates and conducting interviews, the Pilot Program Steering Committee selected Gene Fogle for this position. With a career in business, a delight in seeing youth succeed and a fervor for making things go fast, Mr. Fogle in onboard and reaching out to educators and industry. He can be reached at 815-593-0865 or by email at gfogle@dcedc.org.
To visit the DeKalb-Ogle Workforce Consortium website Click Here!
Business Resources
DeKalb County’s area higher education institutions are excellent resources for training and recruiting employees, promotion of local resources, and engaging businesses in activities that help them expand or develop new products or services.
Please see the Resources for Your Business booklet from Northern Illinois University and Working with Local Business and Industry from Kishwaukee College to learn more about what the university has to offer local businesses.
Illinois workNet Center
DeKalb’s workNET Center offers several services to address building DeKalb County’s workforce. The DeKalb workNet Center, in conjunction with Kishwaukee College, provides a number of the job seeker and employer services available at the Center. Their Career Resource Center has available computer access for job searches. Additional services include financial assistance for training, career exploration, job search assistance, on-site job placement, computer literacy courses, and GED and ESL class schedules, and information for Kishwaukee College financial aid. For employers, the workNet Center and provides pre-employment assessments in math or reading, assistance in searching for qualified applicants, space for conducting interviews, and more. Additionally, their On-the-Job Training Program provides hands-on training with up to a 50% reimbursement to employers for as long as 6 months of the wages to the employer. For more information, please visit their website: IL WorkNet.
Kishwaukee Education Consortium
KEC is working to build the workforce with high school students. By providing a safe and challenging academic environment, KEC enables students to develop the necessary skills to become responsible citizens and life-long learners. Offering career and technical classes to more than 450 junior and senior high students, KEC gives dual credit for no charge to students in 17 different award-winning classes. Through these classes, students learn about employability, life skills, as well as the field they are interested in. KEC also has a program for at-risk students.With the highest success rate in the Midwest, KEC is a template for other alternative education programs around the state. Working with at- risk students to work on improving academic achievement, citizenship, and responsibility, each student is paired with a staff member. In KEC’s programs, students gain exposure to the workplace environment
Goodwill Community Resource Room
The Community Resource Room has 10 internet ready computers, a printer, fax, phone line, projector and a Resource Specialist to help community members. Training classes held in conjunction with community partners include Basic Computer Skills, Veterans Benefits, Finding Quality Childcare, Creating a Budget, and much more. Training providers are welcome to use the room to offer training courses to community members. Employers are encouraged to use the room for recruitment events.
The Community Resource Room will allow Goodwill to offer training as well as allow non-profits and employers access to the room to train and recruit individuals in the community. Goodwill will also operate its free income tax preparation program in the room in January 2015.
Goodwill’s Community Resource Room is open Monday through Friday from 12pm to 5pm, with training courses in the morning. For a full training calendar, please see Goodwill’s website at www.goodwillni.org or call the Resource Room at (815) 748-7155.
