The Region II Workforce Investment Board (R2WIB) honored Appalachian Botanical Company as its 2019 Partner of the Year.
The R2WIB and ABCo each focus on to reducing or eliminating the barriers to economic development and barriers that separate skilled and unskilled workers.
The partnership began last summer when the R2WIB hosted job fairs in Logan and Nellis. ABCo staff interviewed people and soon hired them to work at its Ashford lavender operation. Several ABCo employees are now enrolled in the R2WIB’s Youth On-the-Job Training Program, which offers important job skills and life skills training (along with financial incentives to participate).
Being able to keep a job is just as important as getting one in the first place. Through the R2WIB, ABCo has leveraged additional resources to support employees who are facing financial and other challenges that can sometimes make it hard to keep and succeed in a job.
Financial support from the R2WIB enabled ABCo to keep employees on the payroll beyond the end of the growing season, which will help us get a bigger jump on the 2020 season.
According to ABCo President Jocelyn Sheppard, the engraved mantel clock will serve as a reminder of what the company accomplished in 2019—and an inspiration for hiring more Southern West Virginia workers in 2020.
MEET THE AUTHOR / CHAD FOREMAN is the Communications Manager at Appalachian Botanical Co. In his spare time Chad is a free lance photographer specializing in wedding, portrait, and adventure photography. He is also an avid outdoorsman who loves spending time in the mountains of West Virginia, especially kayaking and white water rafting in New River Gorge.