CBC Foundation and Gateway Form Workforce Solutions Training Partnership

Covington Business Council Foundation, Inc. and Gateway Community & Technical College today announced a first-of-its kind partnership to offer performance-skill training at monthly Business amp; Bagels workshops. The workshops target existing business employees in several key industry sectors in Covington and Northern Kentucky.

A key advantage of this endeavor is the opportunity to offer Covington companies KY WINS funding, which supports 75 percent of their training costs when using Gateway's customized training services, said Angie Taylor, vice president of the colleges Workforce Solutions Division.

Gateway Workforce Development Center Director Phil Accardi will facilitate the series pilot session, How to Run an Effective Meeting, on Wednesday, Oct. 7, from 8 to 9:30 a.m. in the C-Forward Technology Solutions Training Room at 501 Madison Avenue in Covington. A Gateway instructor will lead all of the Business amp; Bagels Workforce Solutions Training Educational Series workshops. Topics will be driven by attendee surveys and will be relevant to most business owners and industries in Covington.

The goals for the program are to enhance the value and benefit of CBC membership, attract new members including companies and organizations outside of Covington, and to showcase the business training capabilities of Gateway's Workforce Solutions Division to the Covington and River Cities business community, said Gary Keller, executive director of the CBC and CBC Foundation.

Initial input and support from existing businesses in Covington demonstrated the need and value of a program such as this, said Gary Mertz, sales coordinator for Gateway's Workforce Solutions Division. Business support was instrumental in the creation of the program, which targets businesses with a minimum of 10 or more employees in all business sectors.

Business amp; Bagels will be offered at no charge to CBC members. The series will be offered at $10 per session to future members by advance registration only through the CBC website, www.cbcky.com . The workshops include a breakfast and will be held on the first Wednesday of each month from 8 to 9:30 a.m. The pilot session will be limited to the first people to pre-register at the CBC website. Pre-registration will be required for all workshops.

The Covington Business Council fully supports Gateway's current proposal to locate in downtown Covington at the former Two Rivers Middle School in the near future, then building adjacent to the Kenton County Library, Keller added. When Gary Mertz approached us with the idea of Business amp; Bagels, I thought it was an incredible way for Gateway to put its first footprint in Covingtons urban core. To me, both the program and relocation represent a dynamic, game-changing opportunity for the economic environment, and we are pleased to be a part of this initial step into bringing them downtown.

For more information about Business and Bagels, contact Mertz at gary.mertz@kctcs.edu or (859) 442-1626.