Workforce center helps county residents become employed

BROOMFIELD — Broomfield residents looking for employment now have a local workforce center with the tools to help them find work.

“People who need those type of services, need them locally,´ said Karen Stuart, Broomfield’s mayor and a workforce center board member. “People who need jobs need to access those services nearby.”

When Broomfield became its own county last November, Stuart said city and county officials agreed it was important for Broomfield to create its own workforce center. Residents previously had to go to centers in Boulder, Adams, Jefferson and Weld counties. They often didn’t go because they didn’t know the centers were available.

“People didn’t know there was anything available,” Stuart said.

Stuart has been trying to inform residents about the center by creating brochures on city services and providing information on Broomfield’s Web site, www.ci.broomfield.co.us. The center is attached to the county’s Department of Health and Human Services.

The center opened in April at 12 Garden Center, Suite 230, under a $200,000 startup grant from the state. The center has three employees who also work with the welfare to work program.

Broomfield joined the Rural Work Consortium, which allows the county to operate its own center. Stuart said that while people don’t consider Broomfield rural, other members of the consortium have the same population size and geography. Next year the center will receive regular funding from the state.

“(The grant) gives us the flexibility to purchase the equipment and infrastructure to have a functional center,´ said Frank Schoengarth, director of Broomfield’s Workforce Center.

Schoengarth said the office, which has about 600 square feet of space, has computers with Internet access, book marked job sites on the Web, software for resume writing, fax machines and phones. “We have all the hardware and infrastructure needed to look for a job,” he said. “We help those unemployed and those employed looking for a different field or a career move.”

The center offers resume critiques and job listings to the county’s 44,000 residents.

Using a list of job vacancies across the state, the center tries to match the person with the job, Schoengarth said. “We started out with about 120 visitors a week. A couple of weeks ago, we had over 200.”

Schoengarth said the center usually has about 140 to 150 people a week. Stuart said the state ran numbers and originally thought about 35 people a week might use the center.

“It’s higher than what we anticipated,” she said. “It has to do with availability and the economy. We felt we were underserved and underreported. I think the need is out there. I am glad we can meet that need.”

Stuart added that the board is currently looking for larger office space for the Broomfield center. In addition to a larger office, the center is working on partnering with local businesses.

“We want to work with our local employers to fulfill their staffing needs,” Schoengarth said. “We get the whole spectrum from blue-collar to white-collar people. We have had our fair share of high-tech job seekers. The more we know about employers and job seekers, we can be a broker.”

The U.S. Department of Labor is working with The Home Depot Inc. on a national level to create partnerships with local workforce centers. Broomfield’s Home Depot recently signed up.

“He (Schoengarth) has probably referred an easy 20 to 30 people,´ said Robert Allen, human resources manager at Broomfield’s Home Depot. “He will be able to help me in specialized departments. Our biggest hiring season is in February when garden season starts. Now, when it’s slower, it gives us a chance to get to know each other.”

In addition to Home Depot, Broomfield has a number of large employers including Sun Microsystems Inc., Level 3 Communications Inc., McData Corp., Hunter Douglas Window Fashions Inc. and a number of retail outlets in FlatIron Crossing Mall.

Working with local employers is a high priority for Stuart. “What we will establish is that workforce investment relationship,” she said.

In the future, the center hopes to continue partnering with more local businesses, add workshops and serve more people

“A year from now, as we evolve, we will be better able to serve more residents,” Schoengarth said. “We have served a lot of people in a short time.”

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