Goal is to grow the workforce and the population
The multicultural initiative – formerly called Nueve vida en Greene County, now renamed the Greene County multicultural initiative – received a breath of fresh air last week when Greene County Development Corporation (GCDC) learned it has been awarded a $95,703 from U.S. Department of Agriculture Rural Development to fund a first year of operation for initiative.
Confirmation of the Rural Business Development Grant was received from USDA officials last week.
The multicultural initiative was launched in the fall of 2021 by GCDC to help grow the county’s workforce and overall population. That happened at a time when Greene County’s major employers – including manufacturers, the Greene County Medical Center and Wild Rose Casino & Resort – were having little success in filling about 300 open jobs.
Sid Jones, recently retired president of Home State Bank in Jefferson and still president of GCDC, said, “the USDA grant further demonstrates and supports the importance of the diversification of our workforce and community, as we strive to find employees for our businesses, and reverse the declining trend in population that we have had for the past 100 years.”
He said the grant funding will enable the opening of a Multi-Cultural Family Resource Center as well as covering the salary of a fulltime director of the program. The position will be advertised soon in hopes that the director can be hired and working by late fall.
The Greene County Community School District, which is partnering in the program, will handle the hiring of the director and provide initial office space and equipment.
Meanwhile, Jones said, GCDC officials will be working to “solidify the commitment from our businesses and industries, the city of Jefferson government, and the Greene County board of supervisors for an additional three years of funding for the program. Success will not happen in year one, but the foundation for success can be laid through the development of a resource center.”
All those entities have been involved in the planning and development of the multicultural initiative.
Meetings are now being scheduled for next month when GCDC officials will ask the employers, local governments and even interested individuals to consider financial commitments for the next three years of the program.
“Getting to this point has taken nearly two years,” Jones said. “We knew when we started that the idea of a more diverse workforce and population was a vision that would take time to catch hold, a vision that would find resistance, but a vision that would evolve as discussions happened and thoughts were shared.
“This grant from the USDA is a very important stepping-stone,” he continued. “Hopefully it’s the catalyst needed for the hiring of someone to coordinate our efforts, someone who will help us all create a more welcoming community and work environment to new families from a variety of cultures. That will make Greene County a unique community to live in and raise a family.”
