MH Enterprises has secured funding through the Alberta Community and Social Services and the Workforce Development Initiative that will have an immediate and meaningful impact on the labour market in Drumheller.
The funding is from the Alberta government and will expand MH Enterprises’ ability to serve its clients.
“These are really essential impactful tools. They are going to make a difference to so many people, and that’s what we’re about,” said Marina Paarup, MH Enterprises executive director. “It is an expansion of services that are specifically targeted to our rural community to benefit our rural employers and our rural job seekers. “We are over the moon excited about the potential of the new services.”
The first major change they will see is the ability of MH Enterprises to provide access to all Albertans to a compressive self-directed resource centre.
“What it is going to do for us initially is open our agency as a resource centre for the public, you don’t have to be a client to come in and have free access to self-directed services of the centre,” explains Paarup. “They are funding us to become a service centre for all Albertans. Whereas before it was more targeted towards an unemployed Albertan, now it could be a student, an employer, or anybody who just wanted information.”
This means residents will be able to walk into MH Enterprises and access information, services and support, and access to government and community resources, career and education planning tools and resources, information on local labour markets, online and physical job banks and access to equipment and technology for job searching and applications.
This service will be offered in Drumheller, as well as its new permanent office in Stettler, and MH Enterprises will continue to do outreach to its rural areas.
MH has also recruited a specialized job developer who will work with employers to meet their needs. This will include placement assistance, including funded placements.
“Previously, we had funded placements for target job seekers, such as specialized services for youth, and specialized services for persons with disabilities. This fills in the gaps in between. So funded placement will be available for unemployed Albertans without being in a specialized group. It is a significant investment in rural for employers to develop new hires.”
These placements can be up to 12 weeks.
The funded placement also adds the ability to have funded training for employees. Job seekers can receive funded training for work exposure. This can be done before the person is hired, or it can be done on the job.
“When an employer needs certain training that has to occur within the job site, we can also fund that within the funded placement. So it is going to pay for wages and initial training for the new hire.”
She adds the program has some opportunities for career laddering.
“We can take some case by case where they can career ladder within the workplace. Let’s say there is a current employee who wants to be promoted to another position and they don’t have the skills, we can consider that case by case. The biggest thing is providing flexibility to employers and job seekers because really, everybody’s needs are different, and accommodating those needs specifically is what is going to make this successful.”
Paarup said they have been working on getting this program since April and were awarded the contract, which began on October 1.
In my 28 years, I have never seen a program so extensive to assist both local employers and job seekers.”
