Signing Day for Local U.S. DOL Apprenticeship for CNC Machinists to Meet Local Employer Needs
58 INC., Shelby County’s economic development organization, and the Greater Shelby County Chamber of Commerce (GSCCC), hosted a “Signing Day” event to highlight the County’s newest workforce development initiative – a U.S. Department of Labor Machine Tool Technology Registered Apprenticeship Program in partnership with Lawson State Community College and a consortium of local employers. This is a direct response to the expressed needs of local employers for the highly skilled trade as well as a commitment made by the leadership of 58 INC. and the GSCCC through the Shelby One-Next Level Up campaign to identify and meet local employer needs through partnered initiatives. While the first cohort of apprentices is a small pilot class, the desire of the partners is to create a pipeline of skilled labor to feed the projected demand and workforce gaps anticipated due to an aging workforce and a stagnant emphasis on trades at the K-12 level. Further, the partnership hopes that this is the first of many initiatives to directly address workforce needs for local employers.