May 13, 2025 Minutes

Workforce Development Board Regional Minutes

Employment Services - 315 N. 11th Ave, Bldg. B, Greeley, CO 80631
Meeting Location: First Floor Conference Room
Meeting: May 13, 2025 12:00 p.m. to 1:30 p.m.

Board Members Present:
Alex Kloehn, Lutheran Family Services, Rocky Mountains; Amanda Ericson, HRx Services; Bill Johnson, Yoder Family Companies; Cassidy Stubblefield, Upstate Colorado; Cecil Courtney, Denver Pipefitters Local 208; David Zumbrun, Chicken Salad Chick; Erin Smith, Aims Community College; Karla Torczon, Elevations Credit Union; Kelly Folks, Colorado Department of Labor & Employment; Lauren Price, Aurora Mental Health & Recovery; Lisa Taylor, The Weld Trust; Lisa Vaughn, Golden Aluminum; Matthew Hortt, High Plains Library District; Michael Wailes, Weld RE-5J; Phil MacHendrie, City of Greeley; Ronald Cole, City of Greeley; Shawn Croissant, Envision; Victoria Cordova, Banner Health; Zach Huston, Chevron U.S.A. Inc.; Lynette Peppler, Weld County Commissioner;.

Absent:
John McDuffie, Colorado Community College System; Justin Booker, City of Greeley Fire Department and IAFF Professional Firefighter's Union, Local 888 - Greeley Firefighters; Meghan Greene, CDLE DVR; Robert Rigg, Elder Construction


Quorum Present: Yes

Others Present:
Andrew Chadwick, ESWC; Greg Cordova, ESWC; Karina Amaya-Ragland, ESWC; Tami Grant, Weld County DHS; Jesus Borrego, CDLE; Thomas Hartman, CWDC; Todd Nielson, CUWA; Kelsey Baun.

  1. Call to Order 12:01 pm
    1. Introductions – New members: John McDuffie and Erin Fink Smith
  2. Changes to the Agenda – Yes, we have an additional action item
  3. Approval of Minutes Motion by Bill Johnson, seconded by Lisa Taylor. Motion approved unanimously.
  4. Unfinished Business
    1. One-Stop Operator RFP
      1. Discussion held on the required four-year RFP process.
      2. Employment Services of Weld County was the sole applicant.
      3. Bill and Lisa evaluated the proposal and confirmed it met all minimum criteria.
      4. The board voted to recommend Employment Services of Weld County as the One-Stop Operator.
      5. Weld County staff abstained from voting to maintain compliance and avoid conflict of interest.
  5. Compliance Plan Submission
    1. Motion to approve by Erin; seconded by Bill. Motion carried unanimously.
  6. Action Items
    1. Regional Action Team Formation
      1. Tami introduced the concept of regional action teams stemming from the Talent Summit.
      2. Initial participants: Fort Collins Area Chamber, Mark Johnson, Tami, and Kelsey Baun.
      3. Clarification needed on whether Weld will have its own representatives or share with Larimer County.
      4. Initial commitment is a one-day event, with follow-up quarterly virtual meetings.
      5. Board members encouraged to express interest in joining.
  7. Announcements, Updates, and Celebrations
    1. HSE Graduation – Lisa and Greg reported on the HSE (High School Equivalency) graduation ceremony
      1. 20 GED recipients, with 10 participating in the ceremony.
      2. Keynote speaker: Dr. Insoon Olson of Greeley School District, who shared her personal journey from dropout to doctorate.
      3. Partners from ELC and Bright Futures provided education support information.
      4. GED holders earn on average $9,000–$10,000 more annually. RMWDA - Tammy received lifetime achievement award for excellence in leadership in workforce development
  8. Announcements, Updates, and Celebrations
    1. RMWDA – Rocky Mountain Workforce Development Association
      1. Tami received a Lifetime Achievement Award for leadership in workforce development.
      2. Kelly also received an award at the conference
      3. National Governors Association (NGA) representatives attended and participated in panel discussions
      4. Multiple state departments (CDHE, CDE, CDOE, OEDIT) discussed aligning education and workforce systems
      5. Governor's office posting positions to coordinate workforce initiatives across departments
      6. Executive order expected to formalize these alignment efforts
    2. Awareness Committee
      1. Small Business Walk – Small Business Week Walk planned for May 21st at 10am covering southwest corner of 8th Avenue and 9th Street
      2. New workforce system launch date pushed from May 12th to June 2nd
        • System will include AI for skills matching and improved user experience
        • Staff currently being trained before public rollout
        • Existing customers will receive communication starting Thursday with three email notifications
        • Wider marketing campaign planned for late summer/early fall after bugs are fixed
        • System will allow employers to upload training opportunities for job seekers
      3. Recap on Workforce EO – Presidential executive order (April 24th) focused on workforce development integration
      4. Order directs Secretaries of Education, Labor, and Commerce to review and align federal workforce programs
      5. Emphasis on upskilling workers for AI and evolving workplace needs
      6. May involve realignment of funding streams between departments
    3. Apprenticeship Summit –Northern Colorado 2025 Apprenticeship Summit held on April 30th - 42 registrants with 32 attendees (76% attendance rate), including 24 businesses (75%)
    4. Newsletter data – we have over 380 people receiving the newsletter – with a 13% bounce rate and 44% click rate and a 0% unsubscribe rate since August 2024.  
    5. Youth Committee
      1. Leadership changes: Lisa stepped down, Nelson Rodriguez took new position
      2. Emily from Boys and Girls Club joining as committee member
      3. Jesse (youth representative) developing Unified sports programs for students with disabilities
      4. Project Search partnership with District 6 and UC Health provides work experience for students with disabilities
      5. ACE program at Roosevelt High School runs student store generating over $100,000 in revenue
      6. Students in ACE program receive paychecks for their work
      7. Next Youth Committee meeting in September will focus on AI in educational settings
      8. CWDC developing quality career pathways framework to bridge education and quality jobs
  9. Board Focus
    • CWDC update - Lisa spoke to this update and then turned it over to Thomas Hartman – May 19-20 in Pueblo. Tami, Lisa Taylor, Amanda Ericson and Thomas will be in attendance and will circulate a summary through Amanda and Lisa that we can then share with the board.
    • NOCO Works update - Kelsey asked people to remember to sign up for the Resource Partner Navigator. They are looking for 75 profiles and they currently have 63. Lisa Taylor explained how it works and Matt spoke to how easy it is to sign up. It took only 10 min max. This is a hub to help everyone level up, Connecting Colorado will be a link on it; people will be referred to both Larimer and Weld County for assistance, but we’d love to get your businesses online.
    • Joint Board Actions
  10. Miscellaneous

  11. Dashboard – Ruth gave a brief overview of the budget and where we stand with meeting our performance measures. Unemployment rate increased from 4.0% (March 2023) to 5.0% (March 2024)
    • Budget expenditures on track across most programs
    • Program enrollments between 67-94.5% of goals
    • Core performance indicators all meeting or exceeding requirements
  12. Federal Updates – Tami gave updates – Dr McManus gave these bullet points, EPIC is funding through the science program. If anyone would like to deliver the survey to those in your communities, please reach out to Dr McManus and she’ll provide you the link to share.
  13. Adjournment: 1:30 pm.

Strategic Goals

  1. Continue seeking clarity and improving connections for programs and services between Employment Services and the businesses and individuals in the Weld County Community.
  2. Increase awareness and clarify the impact of Weld County's workforce network by attracting organizations and businesses to utilize the available funding provided to Workforce Innovation and Opportunity Act (WIOA) targeted populations.
  3. Increase Weld County Workforce Development Board (WCWDB) member engagement by involving board members in planning, leadership pipeline development, and committee involvement.
  4. Working with intention by participating and supporting ESWC, sector partnerships, and their workgroups to ensure our regional workforce has equitable access to opportunities for quality, life-long education, and individual advancement to secure the future of work in Northern Colorado.

Board Recruitment

The following positions are vacant:

Two Business Representatives - *One Small Business Owner.

  • Administrative, Support, Waste Management and Remediation Services
  • Agriculture, Forestry, Fishing and Hunting
  • Other Services (except Public Administration) 
  • Transportation and Warehousing

If you know someone interested in Workforce Initiatives and can fill one of these roles, please direct that person to Andrew Chadwick or Ruth DeBoer

Upcoming Events

Required WDB Meeting: 7/8/2025; 11:45 AM to 1:30 PM (12:00 PM – 1:30 PM Virtual).
Awareness Committee Meeting: 8/5/2025; 11:45 AM to 1:00 PM (12:00 PM -1:00 PM Virtual).
Youth Committee Meeting: 9/30/2025; 11:45 AM to 1:30 PM (12:00 PM -1:30 PM Virtual).

Assurance

Veterans and eligible spouses are entitled to priority access to Department of Labor-funded programs.
Auxiliary aids and services are available upon request to individuals with disabilities. Dial 711 for Relay Services.
Employment Services of Weld County is an equal opportunity program and employer.

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