Workforce Solutions Breakfast Held May 3, 2024

Thank you to everyone who attended our Workforce Solutions Breakfast on Friday, May 3, 2024 at the Diamond Jo Casino in the Port of Dubuque. The presentation, delivered by members of the Greater Dubuque Development team and TH Media staff, provided an overview of outcomes and updates related to our workforce solutions programs, unveiled recent upgrades to AccessDubuqueJobs.com functionality, and reviewed new data on the workforce landscape in relation to the 2023 Skills Gap Analysis. The breakfast closed with a summary of collaborative regional efforts to address child care gaps in the Greater Dubuque region to deliver on the promise that YOU can be great here and an acknowledgement of Greater Dubuque Development's 40-year anniversary.

Jason White, Vice President of Business Services, welcomed the 175+ attendees, which included elected officials and representatives of local and state government alongside area employers and HR professionals, to this twice a year event. After introducing Greater Dubuque Development staff and reviewing the meeting agenda, Jason invited Mandi Dolson, Director of Workforce Recruitment & Retention, to the stage to provide an overview on workforce solutions programs offered by Greater Dubuque Development. 

Mandi’s presentation shared outcomes of key outreach efforts including Greater Dubuque Development’s engagement of currently enrolled students of our local higher ed institutions through the YOU can be great here Community of College series. Mandi also covered recent rapid response efforts in collaboration with regional partners related to area layoffs and closures thus far in 2024. Greater Dubuque Development in some way has engaged over 2,000 of the affected workers. Mandi also reviewed the resources available to Workforce Solutions Investors including AccessDubuqueJobs.com benefits, wage data through Salary.com and investor exclusive events, and newcomer services such as our community tours and Distinctively Dubuque program.

Matt Connolly, Director of Digital Operations at TH Media, unveiled new features recently implemented on AccessDubuqueJobs.com in response to investor input collected in August 2023. Upgrades include improved job search results and preview functionality, improved resume search results and preview functionality, additional automatic job imports, tracking of apply clicks, and reports on AccessDubuqueJobs.com results now emailed directly to investors monthly.

Nic Hockenberry, Director of Workforce Programming, discussed the workforce landscape and presented highlights of the 2023 Skills Gap Analysis, released last month. The Skills Gap Analysis is conducted annually, by Greater Dubuque Development in partnership with Northeast Iowa Community College, to understand the relationship between regional employers’ workforce needs and the annual completions in associated skill training programs. The analysis allows Greater Dubuque Development, and our Dubuque Works partners which include State and Federal workforce development, K-12 and higher education institutions, and numerous non-profit organizations, with the specificity to employ targeted strategies, as well as the distance and perspective to project future trends.

Rick Dickinson, President & CEO of Greater Dubuque Development offered updates on regional efforts to address gaps in child care capacity and access. He highlighted the February Grand Opening Celebration of the Bright Minds Campus where the Dubuque Community Y is offering child care services and where the Dubuque Community Schools will soon open preschool and wrap-around services. To grow the pool of child care professionals and enhance wages for those already in the field, Greater Dubuque Development, in collaboration with Dubuque Initiatives, has been developing the multi-year Dubuque County Child Care Solutions Fund, now nearing $1.4 million in investment from state grants and local Business Champions of Child Care. Over $650,000 of those funds are already at work in the county, supporting 18 child care centers to hire an estimated 180 new child care workers and increasing the number of available slots by 557. Rick wrapped up with a call to action, inviting employers in attendance to become a Business Champion of Child Care. 

The breakfast closed with recognition of Greater Dubuque Development’s 40th Anniversary. A commemorative logo was unveiled in celebration of the organization’s 1984 founding and the ongoing, regional collaborations over the past 4 decades that have transformed the Greater Dubuque region into one where YOU can be great here.

Download a PDF of the Workforce Solutions Breakfast presentation.