Page 8 - SKILLS Workforce Development Guide 2021

For Employers: The New Landscape
DEVELOPING THE POST-COVID WORKFORCE
County government, nonprofits, and employers are pulling together to match people to jobs
BY ELAINE POFELDT
Opposite page: Construction work on the Newburgh Beacon Bridge began last September and is expected to continue through 2022.
At Sacred Seeds, Jennifer Ann Safara Perry has built an avid following over the past 20 years selling body butters, coffee scrubs, and other products she whips up. But to grow the Yonkers-based business, the long- time solopreneur needed help. During the
pandemic, she was able to ramp up the online portion of
her business with the help of 12 people, as a result of grant funding from the Westchester-Putnam Workforce Development Board, which had received CARES Act stimulus money to assist employers in hiring or bringing back laid-off staff. Her team helped her with branding, marketing, web development, and grant writing. “It was a chance for a rebirth,” she says.
All eyes are on such workforce development in Westchester County, as leaders in just about every sector of the economy focus on getting back to business as we knew it before the crisis, to the extent that is possible. And with every business, organization, or institution depending on people to make that happen, leaders are doing all they can to train workers and connect people who need work with employers.
6 SKILLS What’s Hot. What’s Next. What’s Needed.
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