Promoting Work-Based Learning in Grays Harbor

Grays Harbor County is a rural logging and fishing community in Washington. The Greater Grays Harbor Chamber set out to expand work-based learning opportunities in the region by working more closely with workforce training companies and local businesses.

The goal is to connect area companies to the resources that are already available to them and promote work-based learning opportunities to address workforce challenges and create pathways to economic mobility.

Loretta Thomas, the chamber’s director of business development, said there is growing momentum in the region for work-based learning opportunities, particularly apprenticeships. The chamber is working to expand its relationships with workforce training providers and identify companies and industries willing to explore apprenticeships.

The chamber is also expanding its online resources to highlight regional workforce development resources, skills training providers and work-based learning opportunities.

The chamber’s initial apprenticeship effort is focused on advanced manufacturing working with a large cannery, Ocean Companies. She said her goal is to leverage an upskill and backfill model to help employers reward longstanding employees with training and promotion opportunities while also helping to find new workers to backfill the positions created by the advancement of the newly trained employees.

Two participants are longstanding employees who are being upskilled in operations management and logistics and planning. The third is a local high school student completing an apprenticeship in operations management.

“The company that we are working with is one of our largest employers in Grays Harbor,” Thomas said. “I’m trying to get them to be our champions for this type of program.”  

To continue to grow, Thomas said the chamber needs to engage different industry partners and training providers. By highlighting the chamber’s success with the advanced manufacturing apprenticeship, she hopes to build similar initiatives in other industries. The chamber has also received a workforce development grant to support training people for hospitality and culinary industry jobs.