Local Workforce Board plans to continue services throughout region, Staffing details to be determined

The Lincoln Trail Workforce Development Board (LTWDB) has drafted a tentative plan to assure services for job seekers and employers remain accessible in Bardstown, Lebanon and Leitchfield.

The plan calls for workforce professionals with the Lincoln Trail Area Development District to provide job seeker and employer services through the Workforce Innovation and Opportunity Act.

The plan comes with the reorganization of the Office of Employment and Training (OET), which removes that agency’s staff from the Lincoln Trail region’s three affiliate Career Centers located in Bardstown, Lebanon and Leitchfield.

“The LTWDB maintains its longstanding commitment to our presence in those communities,” said board chairman Mo Miller.

While OET staff will provide support from the Career Center in Elizabethtown, which will now serve as a regional hub, the board has requested OET staffing support and support from the other Kentucky Career Center partners, the Office of Vocational Rehabilitation (OVR) and the Office for the Blind (OFB) in each community.

Bardstown

The plan calls for a workforce professional with the Lincoln Trail Area Development District to provide services one day per week, or more if needed, at the Nelson County Public Library. The board has requested that OET staff provide services in Bardstown two days per week.

Lebanon

The board plans to maintain the Workshop Lane Career Center location. A full-time workforce professional with the Lincoln Trail Area Development District will work from that location. The board has requested one full-time OET employee dedicated to Lebanon and Springfield.

Leitchfield

Plans also include a workforce professional with the Lincoln Trail Area Development District offering services four days per week at a Leitchfield location. OET staffing has been requested two days per week. Whether the Leitchfield location will be in the existing Career Center on East Market Street is yet to be determined.

With the plan, as well as ongoing services in Elizabethtown, the LTWDB is working to provide the most accessible services possible with the resources available.

“We understand job seekers and employers need Career Center services,” Miller said. “Our goal is to minimize the effect of OET budget cuts and ensure those services are no more than a 30-minute drive away from as many residents of the region as possible.”

The LTWDB plan is contingent upon future joint planning of the Kentucky Career Center partners including OET. The OET reorganization is effective Feb. 16.

Additional information will be shared as soon as it is available.