MOULTRIE, Ga. — Through a partnership with the Moultrie-Colquitt County Development Authoirty serving as the recipient, the Brooks, Colquitt, Grady, Mitchell and Thomas County Joint Development Authoirty has received a grant from the US Economic Development Administration.  

The grant will provide $60,000, matched by an additional $15,000 from the JDA, for a total of $75,000 to launch a regional workforce pipeline survey project, according to a press release from the JDA on Tuesday. The project will be focused on industry and community engagement, and cross participation among the k-12 and post-secondary institutions serving the region, the release said. 

“The goal of the project is to determine the workforce currently needed, and particularly identify future workforce skills to ensure our communities continue to grow and thrive,” the release said. 

According to Paige Gilchrest, president of the Mitchell County Development Authority and chairwoman of the JDA, “A key element of success for rural communities and regions is to have a readily available and highly trained workforce to meet industry needs, as well as pipeline programs for instilling and providing hands-on opportunities for future skill sets. Additionally, given the ongoing and ever-changing impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic, it is more important now than ever to ensure our region can supply the trained workforce to allow industry to continue operations successfully.” 

Along with gaining skill insights, the project will also determine the volume of workforce needed to allow companies to maintain activities with known employment evolutions due to retirement and population shifts, as well as what the communities must have to grow and meet future demands, the release said. Ensuring the availability of trained workers is similarly paramount to ensuring skills have been taught. 

The JDA has secured the services of Russ Moore of Seamless Education Associates to implement the survey design, collection and analyzation, the release said. Moore will work with the JDA and partners to determine the next steps for using the findings to address workforce pipeline programming to meet industry needs.

The Brooks, Colquitt, Grady, Mitchell and Thomas County Joint Development Authoirty was established 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.