Overton County will look to use grant funding to help assist in workforce development.
County Executive Ben Danner said the county will have to decide what specific areas need to be addressed through the $50,000 grant.
“It’s very competitive but we have to do something with workforce development,” Danner said. “We’re going to have public hearings about that and see what we can do with that money to develop the workforce we’ve got coming up to develop some of the jobs we’ve got coming in.”
The county previously received the state’s Three Star Grant to purchase new Chromebooks for the school system.
Danner said workforce development should begin in school to help prepare the county’s next workforce.
“You can’t ever start too early in workforce development. It needs to start in the grade schools and get the kids ready for jobs,” Danner said. “We’re just trying to come up with something really good that’s obtainable that can help with the workforce here. That’s the goal as we’ve got lots of places hiring right now but the workforce needs to be trained. That’s what we’re trying to look for right now.”
Danner said a public hearing on what to do with the grant funding will likely take place within the next couple weeks.
