REACH (Regional Employment & Assessment Center for Hiring)

Two REACH Centers are open in this region. The first, established in January 2006 is in Lafayette and the second, in Kokomo opened its doors in January 2008. REACH provides enhanced screening and assessment services to strategic partners beginning with the region's manufacturing industry cluster employers.

Services include:

• WorkKeys job task analysis and assessment;
• customized screening and assessment;
• use of the Smart Application;
• access to AccuVision Workforce Readiness System;
• access to AccuVision Workplace Success Skills System;
• company showcases;
• brokered background and reference checking;
• employer seminars;
• pre-referral 'finishing school' for job seekers; 
• Business & Professional Exhange - a networking group for white-collar professionals.

STRATEGIC SKILLS INITIATIVE UPDATE

• The 160- hour advanced manufacturing course known as SKILL-MAP has begun at Ivy Tech Community College, and the first cohort of approximately 60 students - all incumbent workers from Caterpillar - have been enrolled in this program. Instruction is scheduled to begin in the spring of 2007.

WIRED

• Region officials have begun working on their implementation plan, which seeks to integrate workforce, enconomic development and education to support "high performance production". This concept is based on the sense that the economic future of North Central Indiana will be driven by the ability to innovate and produce high value products. To do this, the region intends to strengthen entrepreneurship networks, launch a next generation of cluster initiatives, leverage talents of older workers, create a process of stronger civic engagement, and invest in promising innovations to align their resources.  Officials also convened their first in a series of quarterly workshops in Kokomo in February. Discussion centered on three critical dimensions: how to establish regional principles of collaboration, how to sustain their opportunity fund, and how to make the planned regional forums powerful learning experiences.