High Country Workforce Development Board

Next week in Yancey! Hiring for the North Carolina Department of Adult Correction.

Get your application in this weekend and interview on Tuesday at NCWorks in Burnsville!

Tomorrow at 11:30! LMI Tuesday!

Curious what NC employers are saying about hiring right now? Tomorrow's LMI Tuesday session features new findings from the 2026 Employer Needs Survey, including how businesses are responding to entry-level hiring and where work-based learning and AI fit into the picture. Learn more: https://www.commerce.nc.gov/lmi-tuesdays

Two great hiring events coming up in Wilkes and Ashe!
Reach out to NCWorks Career Center of Wilkes and NCWorks Career Center of Ashe & Alleghany for more information!

Great WDB meeting yesterday welcoming newest Board member Brandy Watson with Provalus in Wilkes County and a presentation featuring Dr. Brett Taubman, Director of AppState Fermentation Sciences to share about their innovative Rootsii workforce development initiative! Exciting development around agriculture technology! Learn more at https://www.rootsii.com/about.

Great interactive presentation at the Smart Start conference in Greensboro! The team shed light on our collaboration to recruit and retain early childhood teachers through the Childcare Academy held at the Wilkes Community Partnership for Children and the NCWorks Career Center of Wilkes pre-apprenticeship program. We are proud of our most recent group of Academy recruits! It was a great morning sharing ideas with other counties to tackle the childcare teacher crisis.

Team: Veatrice Johnson, Career Advisor at NCWorks; Misty Bishop-Price, Director WDB; Stacy Daniels, Childcare Resource and Referral Consultant at WCPC

Congratulations to WDB staff, Debra Foxx for completing the Leaderhsip Development program with the Boone Area Chamber of Commerce!

Lunch and Learn: Fraud Protection happening next week! Shred truck on site at High Country Council of Governments on New Market Blvd. Please register if attending!

Last week our team participated in the NC Business Services Summit in Greensboro and participated in a panel on using Data Tools in workforce development. Lots of great information!

Congratulations on this multi-regional award at the NC Rural Center conference! Excellence in Regional Collaboration:
• Western Broadband Coalition
• The coalition is comprised of five regional councils of government: Land of Sky Regional Council, High Country Council of Governments, Western Piedmont Council of Government, Southwestern Commission, and Foothills Regional Commission

Congratulations Susannah! Susannah served in our Disaster Recovery Employment Program assisting with program expectations and working with other dislocated workers in the community while completing her Human Services Degree! Upon completion, she has gained employment as a Disaster Case Manager for a local releif organization, continuing to support the region in hurricane recovery. Thanks to your support at the NCWorks Career Center - Avery, Mitchell & Yancey Counties!

Mayland Community College