Programs
Worlds of Work
All area youth will have the opportunity to participate in the event as we will coordinate with Columbia Public Schools to make sure the youth have the ability to attend the event. By directly bringing our industries together, we will continue to close the skills gap. The program will also assist in helping youth to understand the training and knowledge they must have to have these careers. It will also assist in businesses understanding the need and barriers that youth have to obtaining these jobs and how to break down these barriers.
Worlds of Work is a program that focuses on youth starting in middle school and follows them through high school. The program is a experiential job fair pairing youth with different industries for a hands on experience in those industries. It follows the youth through high school ending with a job fair for possible employment or internship coming out of high school.
Area schools, businesses, parents, and other employment and training professionals will collaborate to provide area youth with a high impact workforce exploration experience. Events will be held to ensure all area youth understand the career pathway opportunities that are available locally. This includes direct contact with experts in apprenticeships, two and four year training opportunities, and work based learning opportunities. Participants will learn about the employment and training needed to be successful in the workforce.
Boomerang
The marketing campaign will target young adults and people in working age that have a connection to Columbia. The goal is to educate individuals about career opportunities, pathways to prosperity and quality of life which makes Columbia a great place to live, learn, work and play. The program would work with our institutions of higher education, K-12 education institutions and other community partners to build a target audience.
Talent Pipeline Management
The Talent Pipeline Management (TPM) initiative focuses on building a skilled workforce with demand-driven strategies to create career pathways for students and workers. By reskilling or upskilling a current and future workforce through TPM we continue progress in equality in the workplace and in the community.
The TPM program is an ongoing program that will begin with our staff attending the TPM Academy in a different city over a six-month timeframe. Following staff becoming accredited the Chamber will be able to host differing TPM cohorts here in Columbia and Boone County based on industry type. These will be at minimum monthly meetings. Each cohort will have a different day and time for meetings.
Once our staff is accredited and the Columbia Chamber of Commerce begins hosting TPM cohorts. Eligibility will be determined by which industries of our community create a cohort. For example manufacturing would have a different cohort than construction. Once a cohort is assembled each participant must buy into the program to participate. The buy-in will help sustain the program into the future, past the ARPA funding’s life.
Show-Me Careers
The Show-Me Careers program is designed to expose students to great career opportunities by bringing influential middle school and high school educators, counselors and administrators into advanced manufacturing, technology, health care and other targeted job sites where employers have identified worker shortages and a need to develop a career pipeline for area youth. The initiative assists educators in producing lesson plans that expose youth to career opportunities in the Columbia area.
The inaugural cohort of 20 Columbia Public School educators took place in June of 2022, with current cohort classes reaching 80 members.
For more information or to find out how your business can become involved in Show-Me Careers, please contact Vice President of Workforce Development Lisa Buchanan at (573) 817-9115.
Show Me Careers Presenting Sponsor
