Rev. Matthew Watts presented a plan for the use of $300 million when he spoke to the Senate Workforce Committeee“Let’s create a robust internship program for all these kids that are in HSTA, Promise Scholars, Upward Bound students. Let’s try to get them connected with employers during the summer for summer internships so that they can develop brand loyalty, and, hopefully, when they graduate from college, the company will have the first opportunity to recruit them.” Watts said that he commends the work of legislators through certain bills, like the Senate’s proposed Third Grade Success Act, and similar House Bill 2003, which, if passed, would place assistant teachers in K-3 classrooms to help improve student achievement, but he said that isn’t enough. He said that the state needs more certified reading teachers, and legislators should also focus on students who have already passed grade 3. “Here’s the problem, we’ve got 250,000 kids in the public school system in the state of West Virginia. 225,000 of them have already passed the fourth grade. Only 25% of them are reading on grade level. What are we going to do for them?” Watts asked. He continued that a plan needs to be in place to help all children. “We have become a transfer portal,” Watts said of the state. “A lot of our fairest and brightest–they want out of here. They go to Morgantown and don’t unpack their bags. They go to Marshall and don’t unpack their bags. They leave. We have got to do more to get them to stay.” “We gotta grow our own,” Watts continued. “We gotta develop the people who want to be here, and the people that are going to be here. We have to invest in them, because they have nowhere to go. They don’t need them in Detroit to put cars together. They don’t need them in Pittsburgh to work on steel. Our people aren’t needed anywhere if they don’t have skills.”Also, during the committee meeting, Jeff Green, deputy executive director of WorkforceWV, delivered a presentation on the ways his organization is helping the state’s residents find jobs. Green said that while the state labor force participation rate averages 55%, there is a wide range of labor force participation rates from county to county, with Monongalia having the highest workforce participation rate at 69% and Mingo County with the lowest at 31.9%. Currently, most of the new unemployment rate claims are from the construction sector, which is not unusual during the winter, Green said. “We are up about 700 over the number of claims submitted in November,” Green stated, adding that while the unemployment rate has “ticked up” as a result, it is nothing to worry about. He also explained that in September, WorkforceWV contracted with Premier Virtual to create an online system to hold virtual job fairs twice a month. “We have had a total of 786 job seekers participate in those meetings, and we have had 488 employers participate,” Green noted. “Through that process 2,261 jobs have been posted through that online forum.” Additionally, he said that case managers are beginning to work with certain people on unemployment to create an “individualized employment plan,” and identify any barriers they may have to receiving employment. Senator Rollan Roberts, R-RaleighHe also said that initiatives are ongoing to help fill state positions, like those available through the Division of Highways, and to help those who have been incarcerated find employment. In response to a question from Committee Chairman, Rollan Roberts, R-Raleigh, about initiatives used to help employ older, possibly retired residents, Green stated that he does work with the Bureau of Senior Services. Sen. Roberts added that he would like to learn more about opportunities for the older population, and would like to hear more in a future committee meeting. “I think we have an awful lot of opportunity there that we are missing out on of people with knowledge and work ethic and interest in staying engaged in life and not just checking out of society, so to speak,” Roberts stated. 
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AND THEN AGAIN…….by Tamara Pettit
March 23, 2024
JUST MY OPINION …..By Tamara Pettit
March 17, 2024