www.HartfordBusiness.com • May 25, 2020 • Hartford Business Journal 37
LEADERSHIP IN A TIME OF CRISIS
560 Ella T Grasso Blvd., New Haven, CT 06519 | WorkforceaAlliance.biz | p:(203) 867 4030
It is hard to believe that just a few months ago, our annual
report began with the words:
"Unemployment is low, jobs are plentiful and employers are
struggling to find qualified workers."
Employers are still struggling to find qualified workers in
healthcare and manufacturing, but now others in retail, hospital-
ity, restaurants and other industries are struggling to bring back
their workers, and in fact, bring their companies back to life.
In the wake of COVID-19, we have all had to learn to adapt
rapidly. As the entity charged with solving the challenges of
creating a skilled workforce in South Central CT, Workforce
Alliance has had to keep up with local needs and match them
with available federal, state and regional help.
Our business specialists are taking job orders, helping to
screen referrals and connecting businesses with candidates who
are eager to get back to work. The world we live in has changed,
but our goal remains the same: help employers find talent,
train talent and grow their workforce.
Workforce Alliance and our counterparts serve every part
of the state and together make up the Connecticut Workforce
Development Council. I am proud of how all of us — Work-
force Alliance, Capital Workforce Partners, The WorkPlace, the
Eastern CT Workforce Investment Board and the Northwest
Regional Workforce Investment Board — have put ideas into
action during the most trying time any of us can remember.
Our work is bolstered by ongoing collaboration with com-
munity resources, education providers and targeted initia-
tives with forward thinking partners like the Connecticut
Health and Education Facilities Authority and the Governor's
Workforce Council, on which I sit as an ex-officio member.
Solutions are being planned and implemented every day to
help bring CT out of this crisis through effective workforce
development.
At no other time has our mission felt more essential.
William Villano
President & CEO
Workforce Alliance
South Central CT's Workforce Development Board
