6 | Friday | January 20, 2012 | Bangor Daily News
BRCC COMMITTEE REPORT
BRCC COMMITTEE REPORT
Building Bridges Program
By Vicki L. Rusbult, Chair
2011 was a year of transformation for Building Bridges. Soon to enter its 20th year, this program is designed to support interaction between educators and businesses around career paths and employment opportunities. Program participants are introduced to a sampling of businesses in this region, and each weekly session includes a review of the business and industry hiring trends, career paths, required skill sets, and education requirements. Educators are armed with information to help them inform their students about future employment in this region and how to better prepare for employment post-graduation. In 2011, the class had a record 25 participants who visited businesses representing health care, arts & culture, energy, financial, education, economic development, engineering, manufacturing, and tourism. A total of 16 local organizations participated – thank you to all who shared their time, facility, and expertise! In an effort to inject new life into the program, we reduced the number of sessions from 19 to 16. We quickly realized
that providing 19 visits for 4.5 CEUs was preferred by participants, and have returned to our original schedule for 2012. The next series will begin on January 10th; registrations are now being accepted for the new year. Contact the Chamber at programs@bangorregion.org to sign up. Finally, Building Bridges partnered with the Tri-County Workforce Investment Board and Mobilize Eastern Maine to present the first “Summit to Connect Education to Business in Eastern Maine.” Held on December 8th at Morgan Hill Event Center, this exciting event brought more than 90 participants from K12, higher education, and business together to discuss the state of Maine and future education/employment opportunities. The presenters included the Maine Commissioners of Education and Labor, higher education leaders, business leaders, and introduced innovative new education models being employed in this region. The next session in this series will be offered in Spring 2012. Thank you to the members of the Building Bridges Steering Committee for donating their time and energy to this important program.
Wellness Council of Maine By Rick Lyons, Chair The Wellness Council of Maine had a great year sustaining the growth of previous years. We currently have 117 members who span the state from Caribou to York, Machias to Fryeburg and points in between. Our member businesses hail from 15 counties and employ over 65,000 employees. The mission of the Wellness Council of Maine is to advance and promote good health among employees statewide so the business community can maintain productive workforces and thrive and prosper. WLCME consults with member organizations to promote best practices and improve their health promotion programs to improve the health of their workforce and their families. With health care costs at an all-time high, workplace health promotion is one way to improve productivity and work to lower costs. 2011 was a year of transition for the Wellness Council of Maine as we said goodbye to Jaime Laliberte who lead the organization from late 2008 until February and welcomed Willow Sherwood as the new Executive Director in late March. We thank
Jaime for her hard work to bring the organization to a new level of excellence. WLCME also said goodbye to Rita Bubar of Cianbro and Dan Dauphinee of Northeastern Log Homes who both dedicated close to a decade to the organization by serving on the Executive Committee and should be recognized as among the founding members of the organization. We are grateful for their years of service and dedication to improving the health of Maine’s workforce and economy. Despite the transition, the organization made progress in 2011 by establishing a new Statewide Steering Committee which brings together leaders from around the state to help provide strategic direction to the organization and represent different regions in the state. WLCME welcomed 20 new members from around the state. WLCME also recognized three Well Workplace Award Winners in 2011. The Well Workplace Award recognizes businesses as America’s Healthiest Companies for offering outstanding programming to employees and improving the health of their workforce. Receiving Gold Well Workplace Awards in 2011 were Penobscot Community Health Care and Norway Savings Bank.
Receiving the Silver Well Workplace Award was Mount Desert Island Hospital. In October, we held our Third Annual Workplace Wellness Leadership Symposium which featured Dr. David Hunnicutt of the Wellness Council of America among other state and local experts who shared their knowledge with 150 attendees from around the state. December marked the second year offering a half-day Small Business Conference which featured practical tips for small business owners and brought over 30 small business owners and small business interest groups together. Small businesses often struggle to offer wellness programs and this annual event seeks to break down some of the perceived barriers and show employers the many tools that are available to them. We are looking forward to 2012 and the continued success of the organization and our member businesses. It is our belief that we can improve the health of Maine one business at a time and make our state one of the healthiest in the nation through collaboration and dedication to prevention. To see a full list of our partners and members or learn more about our program, please visit us at www.wellnesscouncilofmaine.org.
WBRC Architects • Engineers proudly congratulate Dr. Habib J. Dagher, P.E., as the recipient of the Catherine Lebowitz Award for Public Service
And we salute: Norbert X. Dowd Award: John Bragg, N.H. Bragg Business of the Year Award: Cross Insurance Agency Community Service Award: Bill Lucy and People’s United Bank Non-Profit of the Year Award: Maine Discovery Museum Arthur A. Comstock Professional Service Award: Nelson Durgin Bion and Dorain Foster Entrepreneurship Award: Sutherland Weston Fusion Flava (Future Leadership & Vision Award): Greendrinks
44 Central Street Bangor, Maine 04401 207-947-4511