HOLSTEIN, Iowa (KTIV() -
As Siouxland Chamber President, Debi Durham worked to bring business to the Sioux City area.
Now as director of Iowa Economic Development Authority, her task is not only to bring in new business to the state, but keep young people here to fill those jobs.
Durham was in Ida County to share ideas on how to do just that.
Creating 20-thousand jobs in Iowa alone, is a big challenge. But Durham says she and Governor Branstad's team are tackling it head on.
Durham said, "We're not where we need to be on jobs, but we're headed in the right direction."
That's good news to Jim Christensen. He believes being from the Hawkeye state is something to be proud of.
Jim Christensen, who is an administrator in education Northwest Area Education Agency said, "Iowa is just such a great place, Iowa has so much to offer. I think alot of times our kids don't see that early on."
Much of the discussion in this room full of students, community and business leaders, was about young job seekers leaving the state for their careers and the impact on growth.
Christensen, "I think there is a real problem for Iowa kids because alot of times they don't see all the opportunities that are out there and one of the things we like to do is we like kids to see these opportunities."
Durham pitched something called the National Career Readiness Certificate. The NCRC is an assessment tool that measures your strengths. Several states have already adopted it and Iowa hopes to do the same.
Durham added, "Right now, we really don't know when a person is unemployed, we really don't know what their skill sets are. And so we need a way to somewhat have a baseline, so it's almost like a universal language that we're all speaking."
The assessment includes 12 different fields. Highlighting a person's abilities.
"We see that it is very important to to help our schools with their kids and help them achieve to their very best abilities."
And if they have to go out of state to reach their goals,
"We want them to at least, when they're ready to make a change, to think of Iowa first," said Durham
Debi Durham speaks to group in Ida Grove about initiative to help workers in Iowa.
