Workforce Investment Board Announces Ventura County 2010 WIB Award Winners

Aug. 29, 2010 - PRLog -- VENTURA, CALIF.--The Workforce Investment Board (WIB) of Ventura County announced the recipients of the "2010 WIB Awards" at its August 26 meeting held at the Ventura County Office of Education in Camarillo. Each year, the awards recognize exceptional contributions made by members of the community to help build a strong workforce in Ventura County. Awards were handed out in two categories: Youth Opportunity and Collaborative Action.

Youth Opportunity  
   The Youth Opportunity award recognizes employers and community partners who offer employment opportunities to young people while encouraging them to become valuable contributors to the county’s future workforce. Two award winners were announced. Each participated in the 2009 California Youth@Work summer jobs program funded by the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (ARRA).

         The first winner, Pat Carman, is general manager of the Dollar Tree store in Simi Valley. "Pat was an exceptional mentor to the young people who participated in the California Youth@Work program at Dollar Tree," says Steve Kinney, president, Economic Development Corporation of Oxnard and WIB chair. "He empowered the youth to solve problems, make decisions and take ownership of their actions--all critical skills to be successful in the workforce."

          The second winner, Carol Frash, is a human resource specialist at the Naval Base Ventura County. In addition to providing youth work experience, Frash opened the doors of the Naval Base to high school and college students to introduce them to civilian jobs and careers on the base. "Carol knows firsthand what an open door can mean," explains Kinney. "Her opportunity came when she was hired as a student aid by the Naval Construction Battalion Center at Port Hueneme. She's now been a federal worker for 24 years."

Collaborative Action  
   The Collaborative Action award is for partnerships that help meet employer needs or improve the relevance and capacity of education and workforce training in Ventura County. The WIB recognized two award recipients in this category as well.

   The first is Kay Faulconer Boger, recently retired dean of Community, Resource and Economic Development and Off-Campus Programs at Ventura College. As chair of the TRIAD Task Force of the Ventura County Economic Development Association, she helped develop workforce development strategies for Naval Base Ventura County. She also led the collaboration of 8 colleges in four counties as chair of the Southern California Consortium of Community College. "Kay built educational bridges that created a new allied health workforce pipeline in clinical lab science," says Kinney. "She also was a strong presence as chair of the WIB Youth Council."

   The second Collaborative Action award goes to a visionary group of long-time business competitors who joined forces on the WIB Allied Health Committee. Their task is to address Ventura County's critical need for clinical and administrative health care professionals. "These four individuals have worked for more than a year to build a collaborative allied health workforce pipeline for Ventura County," says Kinney.

   The four are John Bibby, interim leader of St. John's Pleasant Valley in Camarillo, which is a member of the Catholic Healthcare West Ventura County service area, along with its sister hospital St. John’s Regional Medical Center. Diany Klein, vice president of human resources for Community Memorial Health System, Michelle Reynolds, recruitment administrator for the Ventura County Health Care Agency (which includes Ventura County Medical Center and Santa Paula Hospital) and Sandra Werner, director of human resources at Simi Valley Hospital.

   "Our award winners are an outstanding group of dedicated professionals who understand that a county's economic wellbeing ultimately depends on the strength its workforce," says Kinney. "Their contributions are making Ventura County a better place to live and work and we are grateful for their service."

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The Workforce Investment Board of Ventura County administers federal funds that help to support Job & Career Centers (JCC) and other adult, youth & employer programs & services in Ventura County. Information: 800-500-7705, www.wib.ventura.org.