Travis County Commissioners Court
May 26, 2009,
Item 21
21.
consider and take appropriate action on a request from Travis County sheriff's office to utilize Travis County exposition center on June 24, 2009 for a combined job fair with Travis County human resources department with payment via in-kind services.
payment by the sheriff's office.
>> there is absolutely nothing wrong with this item, I just thought it was worth bragging on.
>> judge, Commissioners, good morning,
>> [indiscernible] Travis County sheriff's office.
as the item is saying, we are asking for the use of the Travis County expo center for a job fair on June 24th.
i brought with me this morning alison Gomez our recruiting coordinator.
alison has been heading up the coordination for the job fair.
we have -- we are partners with county hrmd and some others.
i will let her explain to you some of the details and what we're expecting to happen on June 24th.
>> good morning, Commissioners and judge.
june 24th, from 10:00 a.m.
to 4:00 p.m., we are wanting to have a job fair for the community.
we are -- we are -- as debbie said, we are teaming up with hrmd along with workforce solutions, goodwill and -- to not only have employers brought in at no charge, but also to hold training workshops for job seekers.
so we are wanting to -- to have as many as 60 employers at this time we are up to 42 employers.
so we are looking to have -- have at least 60.
>> okay.
what kinds of jobs do we think that we will have available?
>> we are inviting employers anywhere from retail to fast food up to government positions.
we want to have a wide variety of employers there for the audience that we are targeting which -- which everybody is being affected by the current time.
>> judge, what -- what-- county h.r.
will have all of the positions available that we have posted throughout the county.
the sheriff's office is -- as you are probably aware, we are always recruiting and whether we are actually filling in today or creating eligibility lists for officers.
that's a continual process, so we will be talking with applicants about our positions within our agency.
>> one thing that I -- that I might add is that today, to date the employers that have committed, there are some 700 plus jobs that are vacant, so applicants will have an opportunity of those attending the job fair to have real-time possibilities of getting a position through the 700 plus vacant positions.
the public sectors we have represented are city, state, the county, of course, and primarily military installations recruiting.
private health care, banking, insurance, telecommunications as well as some staffing services that have made the commitment and are represented within that 700 plus vacant positions.
so hrmd is pleased, on the recruiting staff, both harvey franklin and claudia with the sheriff's office and
>> [indiscernible] with success.
>> one of the pluses to this is a lot of people have not had to go out and look for new job for a long time.
this gives them an opportunity at no cost to come out, look at how to brush up their resume, get some interview techniques if they haven't looked for a job in 10 or 15 years, they need to polish up on some of the skills.
so there's opportunities for these sort of things that will be provided to them at no cost.
>> in the -- in the -- sector of -- of -- of reentry, that this court has really embraced also, and looking at persons that need to reenter society after release from incarceration, how have you, within this scheme of job fair activities, notified those organizations that deal with the reentry persons in Travis County?
have that been attempted?
or is it being attempted?
if so, then can you tell me where we are on that?
because of course recidivism, within a certain length of time, you have a percentage that -- of those persons that return because of -- because of or lack of connectivity to -- toward having a job.
as far as a lot of disconnects that are not there.
so source of income and things of those -- that nature is -- is critical to reduce recidivism.
so my question is -- what has been done to address the reentry of those unemployed persons that have been recently -- released from -- from incarceration.
can someone answer that for me?
>> yes, sir.
that's one of the reasons that we have teamed up with workforce solutions and goodwill.
as you know, goodwill and we have a job fair out at our jail and they bring in those employers.
so that's one of the reasons that we teamed up with them to get those employers to our job fair as well.
>> but it's not just for reentry.
what we're saying, we're opening it up to the general public.
>> oh, yes, sir.
>> since we open it up to the general public, I just wanted to be mindful of those persons that we have looked at as far as reentry.
this court has really supported big-time those persons.
so I just wanted to make sure that those persons that hear this today, yes for the general public, but here's opportunities for reentry folks, also.
it was in the -- that was in the reentry program, those persons previously incarcerated and really do not want to repeat and go back, but they need opportunities I think just like everyone else.
>> in addition to that, Commissioner Davis, certainly this community job fair is open to all the general public, but I may add that hrmd in cooperation with the reentry program, we actually engage in very targeted recruiting initiatives throughout the entire year for those who are trying to reenter.
and all of this, of course, is tied to the initiative of the court a couple of years ago that we not only modify our current guidelines on background checks and all that's associated with that, but also because project rio, the Texas -- I mean the Travis County job fair and many other specific job fairs that for ex-offenders.
so we are continuing to work that.
as initiated by your project several years ago.
>> all right.
>> so what's the advertising strategy overall?
we are sending out public service announcements, working with one of the local radio stations toments get a live remote out -- to also get a live remote out at the job fair.
>> channel 17.
>> yes, sir, channel 17, our website, the sheriff's department did a very, very good job working not only with private, with public but also with private vendors.
they will have coffee out there, food and refreshments, I understand.
it's not only a job fair for someone to go and see if they can find an opportunity, but there will also be an opportunity to -- to have a lot of the -- of the vendors, the employers out there will be actually doing interviewing and hiring on the spot.
there will be training, especially for individuals that have not been in the workforce for a long time.
resume writing and job search and interviewing skills, those sorts of things will also be available.
so we are very excited about this partnership.
the day again is June the 24th, starts at 10:00 a.m.
at the exposition center.
and everyone is -- is welcome and if you need a job or even if you want to volunteer at something like that, please show up and give us the address from our director.
>> 7311 decker lane.
>> 7311 decker lane, the expo center off of mlk or 290.
>> thank you so mr.
norton for working with h.r., with the sheriff's department and making this happen.
it's a very nice collaboration.
>> psa's, on radio and television, trying to get them to run those, community supervision and corrections.
>> will there be any postings, anything
>> [indiscernible] like something like that psa's, of course, radio for example we have a lot of folks that do listen to radio.
in community.
i didn't know what kind of approach that you were using.
but -- but I just want to make sure that we are always inclusive as possible, especially in the communities throughout Austin.
>> [multiple voices]
>> network with all of the partners.
>> I'm sorry.
>> Commissioner, in networking with partners like goodwill, workforce solutions, law enforcement agencies, they all have their own networks too, they are using their advertising means also to get the word out.
>> just want to make sure we hit as many bases as we can.
>> roger wade our public information officer at the sheriff's office has been working with all of the news media, contacting them.
>> okay.
thank you.
all in favor?
that passes by unanimous vote.
thank you all for coming down.
>> we thank the sheriff also for the added help that he's going to give us out at the expo center.
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Last Modified:
Tuesday, May 26, 2009 2:00 PM