Businesses join together to train area work force

SIKESTON - I would like to take this opportunity to remind our area residents about the Sikeston Area Chamber of Commerce's ninth annual Redneck Barbecue being held at the Sikeston Sports Complex.

The cookers will start arriving about 6 a.m., but we suggest everyone else show up around 9 or 10 a.m. to enjoy the fun. There will be games and entertainment for the whole family and barbecue sandwiches will be available at our concession stand.

We will be hosting a horseshoe tournament in conjunction with the barbecue. The registration for the tournament will begin at 11 a.m. at a cost of $5 per person for the tournament, which will begin at noon.

We hope everyone can come out and join us.

Turning to our business community, I would like to promote a group the Chamber has been pleased to be working with for almost two years. The Bootheel Regional Training Group, alias BRTG, is a consortium of area industries and businesses, who work with Southeast and Three Rivers to meet employee training needs. BRTG operates under the wing of the Sikeston Area Chamber of Commerce and meets monthly to plan future training programs to meet industry needs. Some of the training they have conducted included OSHA training, PLC Basic/Intermediate and Advance training, supervisory leadership training and statistical process control.

The Bootheel Regional Training Group was able to receive over $30,000 in training funds that covered the cost of the trainings. At a time when training dollars are being cut, BRTG has been successful in securing funds because it is a regional/multi-business consortium. It is harder for individual companies to obtain customized training funds and the Department of Workforce Development and DESE are leaning toward funding regional training consortiums so BRTG fills the bill.

There are many advantages that come with being part of a training consortium, such as more likely to get funded, businesses are able to send a few people at a time instead of tying up their entire workforce, there are cost and time savings and the businesses are able to share best practices. Currently members of the BRTG represent over 3,000 jobs in the area and it is very exciting to see how these businesses have pulled together to meet their training needs.

The Bootheel Regional Training Group is open to any business interested in employee training. For more information about BRTG please contact me at the Sikeston Area Chamber of Commerce at 573-471-2498.

As always for more information about SACC or our events go to our Website at www.sikeston.net.