The Good Life – May-June 2018

WRITTEN BY: KRISTI HUBER • PHOTOS SUBMITTED BY: UNITED WAY
Give a man a fish, and he will eat for a day. Teach him to
fish, and he can feed himself for the rest of his life. Yes,
this is an old cliché, but like most clichés, there is usually
an element of truth. Today, this saying doesn’t go quite far
enough.
Yes, a skilled fisherman won’t go hungry, but is that our
end goal? Surely our community wants a better future
for people and their families. And, our need for a skilled
workforce has challenged us to think differently.
For this man and his family to stop the cycle of poverty,
he will need a job with a reasonable wage at a successful
fishing company. This is the only way his son might have
the chance move up the ladder to become an engineer,
CEO or scientist.
When I visit with leaders across our community, the
conversation often leads to their struggle with the
workforce shortage and how it is impacting their business
and bottom line.
It is estimated that by the year 2020, there will be 30,000
open jobs in our local communities.*
At the same time, one out of nine people in Cass and Clay
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