Goodwill, Regional Chamber Partner on Community Needs Assessment

YOUNGSTOWN, Ohio – Youngstown Area Goodwill Industries and the Youngstown/Warren Regional Chamber have partnered to conduct a Community Needs Assessment aimed at addressing local workforce needs. 

The collaboration, which began this week and will run through Aug. 9, will include surveys distributed to about 3,000 Regional Chamber members, other stakeholders and the public. The effort will also include focus group discussions. 

The information will be analyzed and combined with comprehensive data from sources such as the U.S. Census Bureau and the Department of Labor, according to a news release.

“We welcome the opportunity to partner with the Youngstown/Warren Regional Chamber on this vital initiative,” said Shelley Murray, interim CEO of Youngstown Area Goodwill Industries. “This assessment will provide the data and insights needed to enhance current workforce development initiatives and create a roadmap for impactful programs that help individuals overcome employment barriers, empowering them and strengthening our local economy.”

The assessment aims to better grasp current and future employment demands and barriers faced by residents to prepare the workforce and foster a vibrant, economically strong community by identifying key areas for workforce development.

Goals of the effort include:

• Fostering partnerships between key stakeholders.
• Identifying funding opportunities.
• Enhancing community awareness of services.
• Performing data-driven asset mapping and gap analysis. 

The insights gained from the assessment will help in the development of a plan of action designed to cultivate a skilled workforce that meets the needs of current businesses while attracting new enterprises to the region.

“We are hopeful that this initiative will help pinpoint employment and training barriers so that we can create a community-wide action plan to overcome them,” said Guy Coviello, president and CEO of the Regional Chamber. “That will enable us and our partners to grow the local workforce and ultimately strengthen the economic fabric of northeast Ohio and western Pennsylvania.”

Published by The Business Journal, Youngstown, Ohio.