Southern Indiana Business Report
BEDFORD – The Lawrence County Economic Growth Council was recently awarded three grants totaling $70,000 from Regional Opportunity Initiatives, CenterPoint Energy Foundation and Smithville Charitable Foundation.
This funding will support the Grow Lawrence County initiatives, which aim to develop and promote education-to-career pathways that prepare Lawrence County residents for successful careers and provide our workforce with the skilled labor it needs to prosper both today and in the future.
ROI, through the Digital Towns grant program to improve digital equity and inclusion in the Indiana Uplands, awarded LCEGC $50,000 for the creation of a Grow Lawrence County resource hub. Grant funds will be used to create a comprehensive website for community residents of any age, job seekers and employers that will function as a central hub (specific to Lawrence County) to make connections for education and training resources, employment and high-quality early learning/childcare.
To support preparing students for careers, LCEGC partnered with North Lawrence Community Schools, Mitchell Community Schools and ROI to develop the Lawrence County College & Career Readiness Continuum. The plan’s activities will prepare K-12 students with the skills and exposure to career opportunities through grade-level appropriate awareness, exploration, preparation and training guidance.
As part of this plan, CenterPoint Energy Foundation is providing $10,000 in funding to support the creation of a Digital Media Series portraying the region’s most in-demand careers. Once completed, the digital media series will be accessible on the Grow Lawrence County website resource hub for everyone to view.
The LCEGC is proud to continue its longstanding partnership with the Smithville Charitable Foundation through their $10,000 contribution to assist in the creation of the Digital Media Series and the purchase of 2-way wireless communication technology that will be used during College & Career collaborative events, industry tours, field trips and community events.
LCEGC’s Marketing Manager, Jennifer Jones, said, “The most successful community initiative has been creating a system that fosters powerful collaboration to tackle Lawrence County’s growing gap between employee skills and workforce needs. For the first time in our history, educators, school administrators, employers, and community resource organizations are collaborating to provide career exploration experiences, adult education training, literacy programming, trauma-informed care wrap-around services, digital technology assistance, and more.”
Jones added, “We are deeply grateful to all of our funders for recognizing the importance of our work and for their generous financial support. We are committed to ensuring the success of the projects and to keeping the funders and community informed of our progress over the coming months.”