ISLAND VOICES
This OWL can help you find right job

By Christine McColgan

Christine McColgan is chairwoman of the O'ahu Workforce Investment Board.

We need to focus on internal economic factors that we can control, such as enhancing the education and training of our workforce and better connecting businesses with qualified job seekers. The global marketplace is a fierce arena, and Hawai'i needs to fully utilize every resource available.

One of the most powerful and flexible tools available is a federal fund called the Workforce Investment Act (WIA). Enacted by Congress in 1998, the WIA provides money through state, county and city governments for programs that connect businesses with qualified job seekers, as well as providing means for those with jobs to expand their education and skills.

On O'ahu, these services are provided through O'ahu WorkLinks (OWL), a consortium of a county and state agency and the private nonprofits Alu Like and the Hawai'i Community Action Program.

Since its inception in July 2000, OWL has served 4,000 businesses and a total of 110,000 job seekers and workers by providing services such as job banks for both businesses and job seekers, as well as Internet searches, resume writing, fax and e-mail capabilities, and others. Most of these services are free.

In addition to these hands-on programs, WIA seeks to formulate local solutions through long-term planning by workforce investment boards. The O'ahu Workforce Investment Board (OWIB) is a volunteer board of business, government, union and nonprofit leaders tasked with formulating methods to strengthen the link between the Islands' workforce and its economic development.

We are working to find solutions through a series of planning forums with leaders in all sectors of the economy. The goal of these forums is to unite the innovation and entrepreneurship of the private sector with the government's mandate to protect the public good.

OWIB also reaches out to the state's future workers and leaders through its youth programs, which feature internships, mentoring and job skills for young men and women ages 14 to 21.

And yet, so much more needs to be done. Paperwork and unneeded regulations often delay or even prevent funds from getting to those they can benefit. No one organization is to blame here, but now that we recognize the problem, it is time to roll up our sleeves and get to work solving it.