MOULTRIE, Ga. — The Brooks, Colquitt, Grady, Mitchell, and Thomas County Joint Development Authority (JDA) will launch an employer needs assessment project on Monday, June 1.  

With $75,000 of funding between the U.S. Department of Commerce and the JDA, the project is designed to provide insights into the needs of business and industries in all five counties, according to a press release from Barbara Grogan, president of the Moultrie-Colquitt County Development Authority.  

The JDA has secured the services of Russ Moore of Seamless Education Associates to implement the project, which will begin with a business and industry assessment survey process. Afterwards, Moore will work with the JDA and partners to determine next steps for using the findings to address workforce pipeline programming to meet industry needs.

Beginning Monday, local chambers of commerce and development authorities will share a link with information about the needs assessment project with their business and industry partners, Grogan said.  

“Each business, from 1-2 person teams up to those over 1,000 employees are all encouraged to complete the survey,” she said. “The survey tool is designed to assist the individual business in considering the workforce needed in their current settings, looking at both soft and hard skills, as well as the workforce needed in future years. As the workforce population of a business retires, it is important for a pipeline of trained workers to be readily available and desiring of the job positions, particularly as industries evolve to ones requiring more robotic and science related skills. For a community to be successful, business and industry must be successful, which requires a trained workforce.” 

Grogan encouraged local business owners to read through the guidelines when they receive the assessment tool and to give consideration to the needs of their businesses for stability and future growth.

In the coming months as data is gathered and analyzed, the JDA team members will work with local educational institutions such as Southern Regional Technical College, Wiregrass Georgia Technical College, Thomas University, Abraham Baldwin Agricultural College, and the Philadelphia College of Osteopathic Medicine, which all provide post-secondary college programs to the communities, to review the programming offered by the institutions in relation to the collected data, Grogan said. Additionally, the team will work with local Career Technical and Agricultural Education programs in the middle and high school grades for each of the participating counties, as workforce training begins in the middle school years of a child’s education journey. 

“As you receive your survey assessment link next week, we encourage you to complete the information by mid-June,” Grogan said. “Our goal is to be responsive to industry, and continuously work to create an environment in our communities to ensure your success.”

If you would like to go to the survey directly, please visit www.selectmoultrie.com. For additional information or questions, please contact Grogan at (229) 921-1457, or via email at bgrogan@selectmoultrie.com.

The Brooks, Colquitt, Grady, Mitchell and Thomas County Joint Development Authority was established in 1998 to address economic development and industry-based projects from a regional perspective. The JDA consists of three board members representing each of the participating counties.