Cashiers Area Workforce Initiative

According to many local employers,workforce development is a critical issue in the Cashiers Area. To support growing businesses and increasing customer traffic, our industries – including hospitality, retail, recreation and many others -- must have a dependable and diverse labor pool.  As a community, we must also meet the challenge of a seasonal economy that will likely transition to year-round over time.

At its recent strategic planning session, your Chamber’s board of directors identified workforce development as a priority issue to “move the needle on” this year and in the future. It is a complex problem encompassing recruitment, training, retention, housing, transportation, scheduling and more but we must commit to address its many aspects to make incremental progress toward a long-term solution. We will be considering many facets of the issue, researching best practices, engaging stakeholders, creating employment tools and other innovations to improve the employment scenario.

We would like to better understand your most pressing business needs in this regard and invite you to become active in this dialogue. We are working now to develop an online jobs information exchange program as just one measure towards the solution. In the meantime we will share any similar opportunities which you may find helpful.

We will keep you updated on these efforts and welcome your participation in this initiative.

Sincerely,

Stephanie Edwards
Executive Director