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Clark College offering to help train
non-English speaking employees
Lisa
Pletcher new dean of Clark
College Workforce Development
and Continuing Education
“Quiero trabajar pero yo no hablo
ingles.” Translation: “I want to work, but I don’t speak English.”
Clark College is working with local
businesses to provide training for the fastest growing workforce group in
southwest Washington, men and women who don’t speak English as their native
language
Says
Lisa Pletcher, executive dean of
Workforce Development and Continuing Education at Clark College: “We are seeing
increasing numbers of men and women who want to enter the workforce but don’t
have the English skills they need. They speak Spanish, Russian, Croatian and
Somali. We know that employers would like to hire these individuals but find
that the training sessions in English as a second language can be expensive. We
are offering partnerships with the business community to create high-quality
training for local businesses in the most cost-effective way.”
The Southwest Washington Workforce
Development Council and the Columbia River Economic Development Council are in
partnership with Clark College in this effort. Businesses already in the loop
are the Red Lion Hotel at the Quay, Tensolite and NW Packing.
Local business representatives are
invited to join those already involved at a 9-to-11 a.m. Friday, Oct. 15,
college-sponsored forum at the Murdoch Trust Building, 703 Broadway.
Registration is required by Friday, Oct. 1.
During the session, employers will
have the opportunity to describe the range of language and culture needs of
their businesses, identify common issues and needs, discuss potential training
strategies and discuss state-supported options for providing training at their
companies.
There is no charge. For further
information or to register, call Kristin Kautz,
992-2521.
Builders scheduling
inspections by Internet
Last month approximately one in nine
building inspection requests to the Clark County’s Community Development
Department came from builders, developers or property owners who were using the
Internet to access the county’s website, according to Community Development
director Rich Carson.
During the first month that the new
web-based system was in place, the department scheduled 1,115 requests for
building inspections over the web, while 8,666 requests were made through the
county’s voice recognition telephone system. “Moving nearly eight percent of
inspection requests from the telephone to the web is a significant shift in the
first month of operation and shows that our customers are receptive to web
services,” Carson says.
According to Carlson, the only
apparent difference between web and telephone scheduling is that more people
wait until late in the evening to schedule inspections through the web. For more
information, go to
www.clark.wa.gov./commdev/building/
inspection.html.
Women’s Political Caucus
holding candidates reception
The Women’s Political Caucus of Clark
County is holding a candidates reception and fundraiser from 5:30 to 7:30 p.m.
Wednesday, Sept. 29, in the English Estate Winery, 17806 SE 1st Street.
The Clark County organization is one
of three chapters of the Women’s Political Caucus of Washington, an affiliate of
the National Women’s Political Caucus.
According to the caucus’s website,
www.wpcnet.org:
“The Women’s Political Caucus is a multi-partisan grassroots membership
organization dedicated to increasing the number of women in elected and
appointed office at all levels of government. Our mission is to identify,
mentor, educate and support women leaders in our community who demonstrate a
commitment to reproductive freedom and women’s economic and social equality.”
All of the local and statewide
candidates, which include men, endorsed by the organization are Democrats. In
Clark County, candidates endorsed by the caucus are
Deb Wallace,
Pam Brokaw,
Dave Seabrook,
Craig Pridemore,
Bill Fromhold and
Jim Moeller, and county commissioner
candidate Jeanne Harris.
For further information, call
256-7045.
Voter registration deadlines loom
The deadline for mail-in voter
registration for the Nov. 2 general election is Saturday, Oct. 2, according to
Clark County Elections supervisor Tim Likness.
Registration requests must be postmarked no later than Oct. 2.
Potential voters may register to vote
in person by going to the Elections Department, 1408 Franklin Street, through
Monday, Oct. 18. For further information on voter registration, call
397-2345.
News brief
Clark County commissioners meet in
informal session at 1:30 p.m. Wednesday, Sept. 29.
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MIRIAM GREEN 
"Working to help you!"
