The Center for Economic Development and Business Research at Wichita State University projects that the state of Kansas will have a 10% population growth in the next 50 years.
Yes, but: “Our region in southeast Kansas is expected to decrease in that forecast by about 25% in the same timeframe,” said Thrive Economic Developer Jared Wheeler.
Area business leaders gathered at Allen Community College (ACC) Tuesday afternoon to brainstorm ideas to address this concern as part of a Workforce Solutions discussion. The event was hosted jointly by Thrive Allen County, Southeast Kansas Inc., and ACC.
“Another scary statistic in that same forecast is that in the next 15 years, we are supposed to lose a couple hundred people within the ages of 20 to 29,” Wheeler added. “That’s the emerging workforce, which makes all of your jobs more difficult.”
Forecasts are not set in stone, noted Wheeler. “The beauty of being part of small communities is typically we are nimble enough to adjust trajectories without simply accepting the inevitable,” he said. He pointed to the various business leaders’ presence at the well-attended meeting and their willingness to collaborate as a positive sign for the future.
The goal of the discussion was to brainstorm ways local businesses can recruit and retain employees, positively affecting future population growth.
“We don’t think we’re going to immediately find solutions to these problems,” said Wheeler. “But I believe the advantage that small communities have is the capacity, through collaboration, shared visioning, and shared hard work, to address those issues and be ‘hope factories’ as opposed to ‘bitterness factories’ in our community.”
LISA WICOFF, ACC Dean of CTE and Industry Partnerships, began the discussion by referencing a quote by Milton Berle — “If opportunity doesn’t knock, build a door.”
That’s what the college hopes it has done with its creation and expansion of the college’s Career and Technical Education (CTE) program. Wicoff explained that the new courses can help address local workforce concerns. The program offers a combination of associate degrees, certificate programs, micro-credentials and short courses in state-of-the-art facilities.
Wicoff explained that ACC will partner with area communities, businesses, and industries to develop CTE programs in high demand occupations. “These graduates will have technical skills and employability soft skills that allow area businesses and industries to thrive while offering employment at family-sustaining wages,” she said.
Each table was asked to brainstorm with one another on what knowledge, skills, and abilities a “dream hire” would possess. 
In his group, City Administrator Matt Rehder noted that there is some value in hiring someone who may not have all the required skills. “We like to bring them in fresh and train them,” he said. He added that just because someone may be certified doesn’t mean they’re necessarily going to be the right fit. “We have a few police force positions that are open and you have to be certified to be a police officer in the state of Kansas,” he explained. “To find someone who is certified would be the dream scenario.”
Rehder noted that since his tenure as the City Administrator, they have hired a handful of officers and most have been certified. “We’ve had some good luck,” he said. “We’ve only had to send two of them to the Kansas Law Enforcement Training Center.” If the prospective officer doesn’t pass the three month training, their employment is terminated with the city.
A “dream hire” is all about context, Rehder said. What would be considered an ideal hire for the City of Iola may be different from other businesses and their approaches.
Dale Lalman with PrairieLand Partners agrees. “We just can not find qualified people for some of our positions,” he said. “When we need to hire someone who is going to be over our service department of 20 technicians, we can’t bring someone in fresh who has no industry knowledge. You’d be throwing them to the wolves.”
