Stanislaus Workforce Alliance Helps Create More Than 1100 Jobs
STANISLAUS (CBS13) - The goal was to create a thousand jobs, but the campaign brought in more than 1100 new jobs.
"Now we have 1,132 paychecks going in to our economy and that's pretty special," said Bill Bassitt, Stanislaus Economic Development and Workforce Alliance.
The alliance set out to bring a thousand new jobs to a county that suffers a more than 15-percent unemployment rate.
They did it, and then some.
"The community was able to work in a way to pick ourselves up and do it ourselves, not wait for Washington or Sacramento to do it for us," said Bassitt.
The one of a kind program offered job training incentives.
"It's something that helps tip you over the edge," said David Boring, Never Boring Design and Associates.
Boring wanted to make a difference and recently hired a veteran to join his growing team.
"It's really hard to do it yourself when you feel that effort of a bunch of business trying to cross the finish line," said Boring.
The challenge was this: Enlist a thousand local businesses to agree to hire one person, creating a thousand jobs in just five months.
So far, more than 200 employers have participated by beefing up their workforce.
The hope is additional companies will join in.
The deadline for program is the end of the July.
"We still have another week and a half to go and we are optimistic we can increase that number even more," said Bassitt.
Other central valley agencies have taken notice, and many are looking to follow suit.
