What We Do

Workforce

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Elevate Douglas Economic Partnership partners with Industry Leaders and workforce development organizations to develop and implement strategies to meet the needs of Douglas County employers!

Elevate Douglas Economic Partnership has two divisions of workforce initiatives: Future Pipeline and Current Pipeline. We categorize future pipeline as any program or initiative that is designed to create awareness in the schools but does lead to immediate employment (K-10th grade). The current pipeline is any program or initiative that is designed to provide information on current employment and training opportunities to meet the immediate needs of employers and we target 11th grade through the adult working populations.

These programs and initiatives are primarily handled by the Douglas County Chamber and Douglas County Schools. Elevate Douglas assists with the employer engagement in these initiatives. These programs include:

  • Partners in Education
  • Career Expos in the middle schools and for 9th and 10th graders
  • Career Day speakers in the elementary schools
  • Industry Tours and Externships for High School Counselors and Teachers – this program is designed to get our educators out of the classroom and into the work environment so they can speak more intelligently about possible careers. We target the CTAE/CTE teachers because their students are most likely to enter the workforce directly from high school and the 11th and 12th grade counselors because they are the ones that students will likely go to for advisement.
High School students who do not plan to go to college

Work-Based Learning and Co-Op/Internship Programs for 11th and 12th graders (16 years and up)
These are typically students who have indicated that they want to pursue a career directly after high school. Our goal is to assist them by working to get them a work-based learning opportunities (they usually work 20 hours or less) that will lead to a full-time work opportunity post-graduation. The ideal schedule is for them to begin the program the fall or spring of their 11th grade year and work part-time during the school year, during the summer between 11th and 12th grade they work more hours and gain more experience, their 12th grade they go back to working part-time and then upon graduation from high school they transition to a regular full-time employee. While the employer is not required to hire the student on full-time, most employers choose to because they have molded the student/employee into a valuable employee. While in school, the student receives course credit and leaves school early in order to go to work.

Career Ready Training Program
This is a signature program where we accept a cohort of 20-25 high school seniors and they participate in a training program beginning the spring of their 12th grade year that includes soft and hard skills. Upon graduation they go through a two week “boot camp” where we provide the opportunity to earn OSHA-10 and Forklift certification as well as additional skills directly related to manufacturing and logistics (this is the program Medline piloted and helped create).

Industry Tours for High School Seniors
In an effort to bring job opportunity awareness to as many student as possible, we invite an senior to participate in the industry tours in April of each year. While we focus on the 30% of all graduates that don’t go to college, we also know that of the students who do go to college after graduation that only 20% of them actually earn a degree by the time they are 25 years old. So by allowing any interested student to go on the industry tours, we are hopefully creating a memory of the job opportunities in the minds of those who do go to college but ultimately come back home without a degree and are looking for employment.

Senior Job Fair
In the Spring of each year, the school system hosts a job fair for seniors who are looking for employment opportunities.

 

Second Chance Programs & Underserved Populations

We partner with all of our criminal justice departments and organizations to help their participants find gainful employment once they have completed the required treatment, counseling, etc. This program is uniquely designed for individuals who have successfully completed accountability court programs (DUI, Drug, Veterans) and individuals in the conviction diversion programs offered the Solicitor’s (misdemeanor) and District Attorney’s (felony) offices. None of the individuals are violent offenders. We have found that participants from these programs make loyal and dedicated employees because they are grateful for the opportunity.

We assist our school system’s homeless student liaison with finding employment opportunities for the parents of the students and our non-profit that work with the homeless/housing insecure population — additionally our non-profit partners assist the family with securing wrap around services to help them get on their feet.

  • Often the best way to find new employees is word of mouth and being visible in the community. One way we support these efforts is by hosting industry tours with various groups – elected officials, community leaders, school system employees, etc. By showcasing the facility and work environment and specifically stating that you are “always looking for good employees” – those individuals will keep Douglas County businesses top of mind when asked if they know any place hiring.
  • Sponsorships of Community Events – Connecting Douglas County businesses value-added opportunities.

WorkSource Georgia

WorkSource Georgia is the state’s federally funded employment and training system; working to connect talent with opportunity. At the local level, Douglas County works with WorkSource Atlanta Regional Workforce Investment Board to utilize Workforce Investment and Opportunity Act (WIOA) funds. WIOA funds are allotted to dislocated workers, low-income adults and youth and administered specifically through services geared toward helping disadvantaged citizens obtain meaningful employment. For more information on WorkSource Atlanta Regional Assistance, visit Career Resource Center in Douglas County.

Work-Based Learning

The Work-Based Learning (WBL) program is designed to provide experiences and activities that support a school to career transition. This simply means that students are allowed to work off-campus in the business community in order to learn more about a chosen career. Once a student has met all requirements of WBL, the WBL Coordinator will determine the correct WBL placement for the student. The students will earn one unit of credit for each completed WBL course.

Work-Based Learning FAQs

Douglas Jobs

DouglasJobs.com is the leading job search engine in Douglas County and receives over 5,000 hits per month. Posting jobs on DouglasJobs.com is free for Chamber Members.

Looking to hire a new employee? Post your job opening on our job website, www.douglasjobs.com! Log into the Member Information Center to post a job today!

Access the Member Information Center – www.chamberlogin.com

  • Enter your login name and password. If you need your login and password sent to you, contact the Chamber at 770.942.5022.
  • Click Job Postings in the left-hand menu
  • Click Add a Job Posting
  • Complete the fields in the Add a Job Posting screen
  • Click Submit for Approval
  • Upon approval, your Job Posting will appear on DouglasJobs.com

Looking for a job? Visit www.douglasjobs.com for Chamber Member’s current listings. This site is updated daily, so be sure to check back frequently.