MCED EXTRA

 

 

PROJECT BRIGHT FUTURE

Alcoa CSI was awarded the MCED “Bright Star” award for outstanding corporate citizenship by Board President Phil Boots and Retention Committee Chair Roy Kaser, this week. To read more about this presentation and past winners please visit MCEDinc.com. Also notice the URL address change for the MCED website.

The marketing plan for the MCED project Bright Future continues to produce excellent results thanks to the hard work of the MCED Retention Committee. The HoosierEmpoyer.com web site hits for local employment information are growing by leaps and bounds. Please take the time to visit the site to ensure that your company link is correctly directing potential job applicants. There is also a new feature for “Now hiring” if you would like to post a position.

RETENTION/STABILIZATION

The president’s club breakfast this month featured a very informative round table discussion. Workforce challenges were again a top concern for industry. Our School to Career and SkillsNet committee’s are moving forward on several initiatives to address the issues. We can provide support as MCED and a community by increasing workforce availability, skills and reliability.

The ASAlliances Bio Fuels ethanol plant in Linden reportedly is ahead of schedule and looks to be in operation in May of 07. They are utilizing the www.HoosierEmployer.com web site to assist them with their search for workforce.

Our newest Ag business, vegetable wholesaler, Bonnie Plants is under construction and looks to begin plantings in February.

COMMUNITY DEVELOPMENT

The State is making progress on County initiative to develop the sewer district along the Nucor Road Industrial Corridor. There will be a district board meeting this month to move that project forward. Once IDEM approves the district application, we can move on with the project.

MCED will be assisting County Commissioner President and Director Phil Bane in his effort to integrate our community IT development and increase efficiencies. County officials and MCED are working with Tippecanoe officials to explore best practices.

The Montgomery County Exposition Complex steering committee is working on addressing community input and concerns from the recent community meetings.

MCED and the Visitors Bureau are working with a newly formed Community Alliance group consisting of the Chamber, Community Foundation, Main Street and Park & Rec, on a community calendar website.

Bill Henderson, the MCED Executive Director has been named to the State’s Economic Development “Team”. Michael Mauer, President of the Indiana Economic Development Corporation and Secretary of Commerce, announced the appointment this week in a letter to Henderson.

WORKFORCE DEVELOPMENT

MCED will be taking the Bright Future road booth to the Purdue High Tech job fair this week to represent our member companies. Please let us know if you would like us to distribute your company literature or advertise positions.

The School to Career Committee is still looking for business volunteers to share your industry knowledge with Crawfordsville High School seniors enrolled in the High Performance Manufacturing Class. Please contact MCED if you are interested. We are looking for experts on Quality, Safety and Work ethics. We will also be sponsoring county wide job fairs for seniors this spring if your firm is interested in a booth, please let us know.

Temple Inland has donated the use of part of the former Ivy Tech SkillsNet training facility for continued industry and community training. This space is available for training now, please contact MCED for availability.

STATE & REGION

The 2006 Leadership Indiana report has been completed by the Indiana Humanities council. You can learn more about the recommendations by the council by visiting their web site at www.indianahumanities.org

BillHenderson@MCEDinc.com