Career seekers in the East Valley looking for employment and job skills training now have a new location to access these services, and much more, through the Workforce Center @ Mesa. The workforce services offered by Maricopa County are co-located in a facility where A New Leaf and the City of Mesa also offer programs, making this collaboration an example of a comprehensive service delivery model that provides local communities a valuable access point for a wide variety of services beyond employment support.
Career Development
Education and Workforce Development Roundtable
The Education and Workforce Development Roundtable is a centralized body reporting to the City Council that streamlines and coordinates efforts to advance Mesa’s education and workforce development goals, including but not limited to:
- Increasing and maintaining enrollment in education programs, including in early childhood, vocational, trade, and postsecondary education programs.
- Improving completion rates of education, vocational, and trade programs.
- Achieving higher educational attainment, including increased attainment of professional certifications and licenses and postsecondary degrees.
- Expanding job opportunities.
- Building successful careers, a competitive workforce, and a strong local economy.
- Providing equitable access to work and learning opportunities, resources, and support so that all can participate, prosper, and thrive in Mesa’s vibrant community and workforce.
The Roundtable works in partnership with experts in education, business leaders, nonprofit organizations, and Mesa residents to advance these goals.
Mayor’s Youth Council
The Mayor’s Youth Council is a dynamic group of high school students dedicated to serving their community through volunteerism and civic participation. The MYC provides Fountain Hills youth with opportunities to present their perspectives on youth issues by serving as a liaison to the Mayor, Town Council, and youth, and learn how government functions as well as create and lead programs that appeal to high-school students. More than a community service organization, the MYC instills leadership skills that participants will use their entire lives.
City of Casa Grande Strategic Plan
The Strategic Plan guides decision-making and resource management in pursuit of organizational goals. It is “strategic” in the sense that it provides guidance over a 2-year timeframe. The strategic plan is actively reviewed and updated periodically by the City Council and management to ensure that the goals, strategies, and actions remain relevant. The plan prioritizes six areas: financial stability and sustainability, community connection, community enhancement, economic expansion, education and workforce advancement, and healthy and safe community environment. Casa Grande will continue to have success because the organization is flexible enough to respond to local, national, and global change.
Lucid STEM Careers Workshop
In February 2023, Lucid Motors hosted a STEM Careers Workshop for Pinal County educators. The workshop focused on developing a Middle School STEM curriculum that exposes Casa Grande middle school students to careers at Lucid and within the STEM field. The workshop included five rotations for the teachers. Four contained hands-on activities where teachers learned about various engineering and production careers at Lucid. The fifth rotation was a Ride-Along in one of the Lucid Air vehicles.
STEM Careers Workshop
Career Ready Tempe
Career Ready Tempe helps prepare and develop income-eligible high school juniors and seniors for the workforce by connecting them to college and career readiness support and partnering with Tempe businesses to provide paid internships in high-demand fields. Career Ready Tempe is a collaboration between the City of Tempe Human Services Department, Economic Development Department, and the Tempe Chamber Foundation. The program is funded by City of Tempe Innovation Funds and the U.S. Chamber of Commerce Foundation’s Career Readiness Lab Grant. The program is strategically designed to align with industry needs and the initiatives of Achieve65Tempe, the City’s goal of 65 percent of Tempe’s adult population attaining a postsecondary certification or degree by 2030.