October 20, 2023

10/22/2023

Friday | October 20, 2023

Recruiting Existing Workforce

Recruiting workforce to a community is difficult. They don't know what we know: Ponca City is an excellent community to live, work and grow: grow your family, your business, your hobbies. There is a untapped workforce already in existence in the community: the stay at home moms; The soon to be graduated high school students; The back from college twenty-somethings. The key is making sure this workforce knows what is available job and career wise in the community. How does that happen? Let's begin this conversation with internship programs to anchor students to the community. Kids are watching adults all the time. They learn from experiencing things. Starting with Junior and Senior internship opportunities at the High School. This program won two awards this year from the International Economic Development Council for contributions in talent development and retention and partnerships in education.

Kendra Stolhand graduated last year from PoHi. Going into her senior year, she knew she wanted to go to college; just was not sure what direction to take. Enter My Media Matters internship. Kendra was able to shadow this multi-media company four hours a week, for two semesters. She is now a Freshman at OU, majoring in advertising. in her own words to her Women in Gaylord Leadership Team, "I had an amazing internship opportunity in high school where the workforce was all women. Not only did I feel empowered and supported, I learned the importance of giving everyone a seat at the table."

And then there is Parker Hoogeveen, Ponca City High School Senior, who is interning this year with the US Army Corps of Engineers at Kaw Lake. In the picture below, he (orange jacket) is helping complete routine yearly maintenance on the bridge deck above Kaw Lake Dam.

PCDA is proud to be the catalyst for these types of success stories and a good community partner with our education system as staff continues to develop workforce alignment with existing employers and small business opportunities.

Kendra Stolhand, OU Freshman

Parker Hoogeveen, Ponca City HS Senior

What Makes A Healthy Community

A happy, healthy community begins with the public health. One of these public health initiatives is Certified Healthy Oklahoma. This program is celebrating its 20th anniversary this year and is accepting application until close of business on November 1st. This collaborative effort of Oklahoma State Health Dept, The Oklahoma Academy, Oklahoma Turning Point Council and the State Chamber of Oklahoma recognizes businesses and organizations that implement best practices and policies that support improved health and wellness.

What says "I love our employees/clients" more than a healthy working environment. Take a minuteto click on this link to check out the application and take a few more minutes to complete the Certified Healthy app to get Certified Healthy. If you have any questions or need further information, please call Scott Haywood at the Kay County Health Department at 580.762.1641.

Collaboration, Co-work & Canva

Only two seats left for the November 3 Canva.com workshop. Need a laptop? No worries. One will be provided for you to use the day of to set up your account. But first, you have to get registered. Click here to sign up now. Brook Lindsay from Pioneer Technology Center will give you all the info on using Canva.com for your business, your community events and for personal use.

December's Link Coworking will be on Friday, December 1st with some Donuts & Dilemmas. Looking for information or the answer to that hard question? Head over to City Central anytime between 8 and 11 am December 1st. Grab a donut and let PCDA staff and friends assist with solving those business dilemmas and finding answers to your quesitons..

And make sure to mark Friday, January 5th on your calendar for Free Co-working Day at City Central. Bring your laptop, schedule a meeting or just get some work done in The Link anytime that day. Coffee, Wifi and collaboration!

An Oklahoma Book Made Movie

PCDA Staff get to do some cool things. There is our International Economic Development Council awards and sharing Ponca City economic impact programs; There is also the continuing education credits that give staff the chance to connect with other professionals. But the really fun stuff is when a movie screening happens in our own town; a movie filmed in our state. Really close to Ponca City.

The Killers of the Flower Moon was screened at the Poncan Theatre this week thanks to the efforts of several people in the community. If you were able to attend, we know you enjoyed it and were entranced by this telling of Osage history. A big thank you to Carl and Brenda Renfro, NOC and NOC Foundation for bringing this screening to the Poncan Theatre and the public.

Hispanic Heritage Festival Success

Part of growing (and especially keeping) our Ponca City community and workforce, is creating places and events that are inclusive. The Hispanic Heritage Festival last weekend, held here at City Central, welcomed 500+ people to sample traditional Hispanic & Latino foods, enjoy traditional dances and songs and do some line dancing.

Volunteers served food all afternoon and most of the vendors selling desserts and drinks sold out their wares. If you didn't make this year's event, the Hispanic Oklahoma Latino Association (HOLA) and all the sponsors invite you to make sure to attend this free event next year during Hispanic Heritage Month, Sept 15 - October 15. PCDA is happy to support these events with volunteer staff time and promotion.

Thank you to our industry and community sponsors including Dorada Foods, CPM/Bliss, Southern Star, Tonkawa Foundry, Heather Cannon Honda, Enrique's Restaurant, Ponca City Alliance Hospital, Ponca City Tourism, Cherokee Strip Credit Union & Insurance, P66 Hispanic Resource Network and all the local residents and restaurants who donated food.