At the end of April, the Planters Bank-Jennie Stuart Health Sportsplex in Hopkinsville played host to the inaugural “2022 Jobs Fest.”
In a partnership between the South Western Kentucky EDC and the West Kentucky Workforce Board, it was specifically geared toward high schoolers who noted they weren’t interested in college or military tracks but were ready to join the labor force.
SWK EDC Executive Director Carter Hendricks relayed during Monday’s meeting that the employment fair went well, bringing 30 or so businesses together under one roof for the region’s graduates.
Hendricks said the discussion has already begun for next year’s event, as many of the industries have reported new hires in the last four weeks.
SWK EDC Associate Director Tony Prim said the plan is to make the fair an “even bigger deal” next year, with plans to add tours of facilities while bringing industry representatives into the classroom.
Hendricks said there’s hope to give such a program a name, perhaps later this summer, and to have local schools use the program as a tool for job discovery.
Prim said students were also able to register to vote during Jobs Fest 2022, in what’s usually another building block to adulthood.
In other news:
— Citing a recent study from the Brookings Institute targeting the Midwestern part of the United States, Hendricks said a current discussion in the labor world is the balance between quality of life and business-friendly measures.
Hendricks said the study shows that over the last 20 years, both facets are important, but the quality of life has become even more so.
— Hendricks said a letter will be drafted from his office and mailed by June 1 to Jeff Noel, inviting him to the area for a tour of regional sites and businesses. After a lengthy career as Whirlpool’s vice president of communications and public affairs, Noel was recently tabbed as Kentucky’s next Secretary of the Cabinet for Economic Development.
— Hendricks also made mention of three specific businesses experiencing key success in the last month. Riken Elastomers in Hopkinsville recently celebrated cresting 1,000,000 safe hours of productivity. Novelis in Guthrie began its massive expansion with a considerable groundbreaking. And The Casey Jones Distillery in Christian County continues be lauded for its nearly $2 million investment and 15-job swell.