Prattville Chamber Breakfast held at CACC to celebrate new Career Center

By Carmen Rodgers

Elmore/Autauga News

The Prattville Area Chamber of Commerce held a Chamber Breakfast at Central Alabama Community College in Prattville to celebrate the new Career Center, which is located on campus. Central Alabama Works gave a presentation during the event that explained how the organizations collaborate to fill the needs of those seeking quality employees.

The Chamber Breakfast started at 8 a.m. this morning with the Chamber Chair, Catherine Porter, welcoming those in attendance.

CACC President, Jeff Lynn, then gave a program update.

“We’ve been here for one year and one month,” Lynn said. “We bought it one year, and two months ago. So, our team worked over the holidays and got it rolling in January. We’re very focused on working with all our industry sectors, manufacturing companies, hospitality, nursing, tours, healthcare, you name it.”

While this program aims to promote the industrial workforce, it will also help grow the local economy.

“I am selfish about one thing; I want to take care of our local topics. I don’t want to prepare somebody to do really well in Atlanta or Tampa or anywhere else like that. So, we want to hear about your needs, and provide solutions for those people to stay local because we want to be that economic engine that drives this community,” Lynn said.

Also in attendance was Gindi Prutzman, Executive Director at Central Alabama Works, a nonprofit organization that aims to supply business and industry with a high quality, qualified workforce.

“We work, I always say, two-handed with education and business, and we try to get the two to speak the same language,” Prutzman said.

A four-year college may be what seems like the logical next step for graduates; however, many are choosing specialized training that will land them a career in their chosen field in much less time, and in most cases less expense.

According to Prutzman, Central Alabama Works not only assists those who may be undecided about their career field, but it also aims to give current employees new skills.

“Just know that if you have existing employees that need training, there are options for that,” she said.

Prutzman also explained the numerous grant opportunities available to employers who hire someone who had been laid off at no fault of their own.

Elmore County BOE Superintendent Richard Dennis attended the Chamber Breakfast.

According to Dennis, workforce training is essential to area students.

“The entire state, all the way down to the government level, to the community college, to your high schools, and into the middle schools, are working to coordinate the training process and the interest in these areas so we can bring that workforce through that pipeline,” Dennis said.

In addition to the new Career Center at CACC, high school students are being introduced to technical field studies before entering high school.

“Here in this area, Prattville, you have the Autauga Technical Center, which is located adjacent to the Prattville High School campus,” Dennis said. “We tie into this and are pipelining these students to this next step. We are all working in conjunction to try to make that happen. We are using our STEM in middle schools to set the stage for this.”

CACC, Central Alabama Works, and the Prattville Area Chamber of Commerce want the community to know that these resources are here and available to those who need them.

“It was a way for us to show our partnership with Community College and introduce Alabama Works and this new Career Center to the community. This was a kickoff to business and industry to show that the Career Center is in our own community,” Chamber President Patty Vanderwal said.

For more information about CACC, visit https://www.cacc.edu/locations/prattville-campus/ For more information about Central Alabama Works, visit https://centralalabamaworks.com. To learn more about the Prattville Area Chamber of Commerce, visit https://www.prattvillechamber.com.