GUEST SPEAKER: Heather McMillan, Executive Director of Durham Workforce Authoriity
Introduced by Eric Guernsey, who just happens to work at Durham Workforce Authority, Heather has been there now for 14 years, and became Executive Director in 2012. She has served on the Boards of many local organizations such as Feed The Need and the Boys and Girls Club.
Heather McMillan, Executive Director of the Durham Workforce Authority, noted that The Durham Workforce Authority is the acknowledged provider of local workforce information and champion of workforce development initiatives unique to Durham Region. Their Mission is to produce and offer comprehensive Labour Market Information to our stakeholders, to facilitate workforce solutions by engaging community partners and employers and to encourage development and maintenance of a sustainable and dynamic workforce.
The Durham Workforce Authority (DWA) is a community-based not for profit. They work hard to convene the voices of the job sectors, ensure good stewardship of public funds and to provide reliable research focused on local labour market information (LMI). The DWA works with community stakeholders from business, labour, education and training, community services and municipal, provincial and federal governments.
They have been a reliable partner in the community for over twenty years. This has resulted in some very deep ties with our many community partners and the DWA is seen as a key link in those partnerships in our region.
The DWA has endeavoured to apply a high degree of academic rigor and accepted professional research practices in its pursuit of local labour market data. DWA advises that its work passes scrutiny under the local academic institution’s Research Ethics Board (REB) process and as such, is considered valid, ethical and representative. In putting this process in the forefront of its research activities, DWA’s goal has been to set a standard of research excellence among its counterparts in the province.
In DWA’s view, the collective impact that results from DWA survey instruments and research create a sound and valid basis upon which organizations can develop strategies and integrate these reports, surveys and data findings into their own activities. They believe that a strong research foundation contributes significantly to the sound and efficacious application of results.
The DWA is excited about the prospects for their future, one of ongoing change; that will allow them to continue to conduct and expand their ground breaking labour market research including their Skill Shed and Durham Under 25 Survey, as well as their partnership work they have begun with their Learning Community.
The DWA has 23 years of labour market research in Durham Region and is excited about the work ahead. They look forward to continuing to work with their current and future partners to continue local labour market planning, research and innovation.
They have many offerings: Jobs First Durham, Jobs map, Jobs First Career Library and their website is the jobs search tool for Durham Region. They create Jobs Demand reports, Jobs Search reports and Labour Force reports on an ongoing basis.
She did note that unemployment is currently at 11.6% in Oshawa, it has gone down since March 2020.
She feels that her key audience is small to medium sized businesses and she can provide data to help them grow their business.
Heather was thanked by our Community Service Director Janice Coupland.
NEXTSCHEDULED MEETINGS:
Topic: Rotary Club of Oshawa-Parkwood Weekly Meetings on ZOOM, UNTIL FURTHER NOTICE
Time: 07:00 PM Eastern Time (US and Canada)
Tuesdays,
Sept 22, 2020 07:00 PM
OCT 6 : 6 PM Start - Zoom Meeting LINK https://us02web.zoom.us/j/81628513394?pwd=V2w2cERLTDM5VnZNMFdwNytTZzlhUT09
Meeting ID: 816 2851 3394
Passcode: 999866
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