Workforce center opens new office

    The Washington Workforce Center held an open house Friday afternoon to show off its new location at 1201 Industrial Park Drive. The workforce center served coffee and cookies to the dozens of residents who came to tour the center?s new facilities.

    Martin Frederickson, the chief financial officer of Iowa Workforce Development, was responsible for finding the Washington Workforce Center a new home. The workforce center was at Kirkwood College for six years until the summer of 2009 when the center closed its doors. Frederickson was able to secure a deal to share a building on Industrial Park Drive with Pohaku Inc. Workforce center employees started moving their supplies to the new office last November and by December the center was up and running.

    Frederickson said that he likes everything about the new office, especially its size and location.

    ?The new location is more accessible to people,? said Frederickson. ?The signage was not particularly good at the old office. The new office is definitely more visible. If we include the conference room in the building, we have doubled the space available to us by moving to this office.?

    Frederickson remarked that the workforce center may even expand its services if the public demands them.

    ?If we do become more visible and the public accepts us, we may be open more hours and extend our services.?

      Susan Clark is a workforce adviser and runs the day-to-day activities of the workforce center. She said she is overjoyed to be in a new location.

    ?I love my new office,? said Clark. ?It?s bright and cheery. I?m getting a lot of good responses from people who are glad that we?re back. The new office is spacious and we can serve more people.?

    Clark said that the workforce center has received much more attention from the public in the last couple of years.

    ?We have seen a tremendous increase in people who have come in since the recession began,? said Clark. ?However, I do see signs that the economy is getting better.?

    Clark also commented that the workforce center has a wide variety of services to offer and that ?it isn?t just the unemployment office.?

For the full article, see our Feb. 15 print edition.