About 46 people from more than 30 agencies gathered at the Boyle County Fire Department to discuss solutions to problems facing community members regarding obtaining and retaining employment, as part of the Danville-Boyle County Chamber of Commerce Workforce Development Committee.

Attendees included individuals from the Boyle County Agency for Substance Abuse Program, Caterpillar, Centre College, Bluegrass Community and Technical College, the Boyle County Detention Center and much more. Paula Fowler, executive director for the Danville-Boyle County Chamber of Commerce, said the meetings were not exclusive.

“Anyone is welcome to attend the meetings,” Fowler said.

The meeting was started with talks by Lyle Hanna, president and CEO for the Hanna Resource Group, and Beth Davisson, executive director for the Kentucky Chamber Workforce Center, who shared about the Bridging the Talent Gap survey going around the state.

Fowler said the survey would be pushed out from her office for local individuals to take.

Meeting attendees were then divided into groups to establish what they saw as some of the biggest problems facing the workforce today, such as the lack of a resource guide, how public policy often rewards the wrong behavior, and a large need for childcare, among others.

The master lists will be compiled, said Steve Rhinehart, chairperson for the Danville-Boyle County Workforce Development Committee and administrative manager for Denyo, and then dispersed to the agencies. Eventually, Fowler said, they plan to select one or two of the more pressing issues and bring the agencies back together to focus on ways to fix that.

Fowler said they hope to bring together the agencies that make the most sense to tackle the problems, whatever they may be.

For more information about the Danville-Boyle County Chamber of Commerce Workforce Development Committee, contact Paula Fowler at (859) 236-2361, ext. 121 or by emailing paula@danvilleboylechamber.com

Follow Kendra Peek on Twitter, @knpeek.