The Texas Economic Development Council (TEDC) announced the recipients of its annual Workforce Excellence Awards for 2015. The awards were presented at a special awards luncheon held Thursday, June 4, 2015, at the TEDC’s Mid-Year Conference.
The Central Texas Business Resource Center (BRC) was the recipient of the Regional Category. A total of seven applications were submitted in this category. The key focus of the BRC is to provide local training and support to job seekers in their efforts to become entrepreneurs. The BRC is a partnership between the Workforce Solutions of Central Texas (WSCT), Central Texas College, and the Greater Killeen Chamber of College. The partners financially support the BRC to provide high-quality business counseling, training, and assistance to new entrepreneurs and existing business owners at little or no cost.
Since its inception, the BRC has grown in scope and service structure. Between July 2013 and June 2014, the BRC assisted 1,150 individuals, provided small business counseling for 508 people, and conducted 87 workshops and events attended by 761 individuals (unduplicated counts). The BRC also hosted its 8th Annual Fort Hood Region Government Vendor Conference and Expo, which provided 200 local entrepreneurs with the opportunity to interact with bankers, marketers, lawyers, accountants, insurance agents, and many other resources necessary to start or grow their businesses.
The Workforce Excellence Award program recognizes exceptional contributions by a Texas community or region that has implemented successful workforce initiatives. The TEDC’s Workforce Development Committee reviewed applications from twelve communities and organizations. Nominees were then judged on five criteria: innovativeness, transferability, community commitment and leverage, measured objectives, and secondary benefits.
The 2015 Workforce Excellence Award recipients are:
- Population (up to 15,000): Bonham Economic Development Corporation
- Population (15,001 to 40,000): Terrell Economic Development Corporation
- Population (40,001 to 100,000): Cedar Hill Economic Development Corporation
- Population (100,000 and Above): City of Austin
- Regional Category: Workforce Solutions Central Texas
In the Regional Category, the nominees were:
- Greater Houston Partnership
- Lower Rio Grande Workforce
- Development Board
- West Texas Energy Consortium
- Workforce Solutions Alamo
- Workforce Solutions Borderplex
- Workforce Solutions Capital Area
- Workforce Solutions Central Texas
“Our TEDC’s Workforce Excellence Award is one of the ways in which our organization honors the outstanding work done by our communities and regions, their leaders, and their economic development professionals in the area of workforce development,” noted Carlton Schwab, President/CEO of the TEDC.