Vol 17/Issue 6
greater owensboro chamber of commerce
CHAMBER MATTERS 2019
JUNE
Innovative partnerships create educational and workforce development opportunities Partnerships across the community are creating opportunities for students to advance their skills and prepare for the workforce. Owensboro Community and Technical College’s Early College program allows high school students to simultaneously pursue an associate degree and high school diploma. Students completing this program graduate with both credentials, equipping them to transfer to pursue further education or enter the workforce following graduation. 2019 Early College graduates were recognized during the May 2 Rooster Booster Breakfast. The Kentucky Community and Technical College System and the Kentucky Association of Manufacturers featured graduating students entering advanced manufacturing careers on May 17 at Going Pro Signing Day events across the state. Owensboro Community and Technical College graduates signed with a number of local manufacturers during the event at the OCTC Main Campus. Community Campus is a partnership between Daviess County Public Schools, Owensboro Public Schools, Owensboro Community and Technical College and the Greater Owensboro Chamber of Commerce. This collection of leaders is actively developing specific pathway programs to prepare students for the workforce in high-demand occupational sectors including advanced manufacturing, healthcare, business and information technology, construction, and transportation and logistics. Over 90% of Chamber Members expressed that workforce is their biggest impediment to growth. The strategies being developed and implemented are in direct response to these regional employers’ needs.
Mike Blake to speak at June 6 Rooster Booster Mike Blake is an award-winning broadcaster, host of Midday with Mike and Sales Account Executive for WFIE – 14 News. In his nearly 50-year career with WFIE, Blake has held the titles of Weekday Weatherman, Weekend Sportscaster, Sports Director and Weekday News Anchor. He was inducted into the National Television Academy of Arts & Sciences Silver Circle – Ohio Valley Chapter in 2016 and has won the Evansville Living title of “Best of Evansville Sportscaster & Community Champion” six times. Mike Blake Blake is an active community member, earning the Evansville Leadership Award in 2001 for his work with the Muscular Dystrophy Association. He
has hosted 42 Jerry Lewis Labor Day Telethons benefiting MDA. He has also received the Paul Harris Fellow Award from the Evansville Rotary Foundation of Rotary International and has received the Steward of St. Vincent DePaul Award presented by the St. Mary’s Hospital Foundation. Blake is a member of five Sports Halls of Fame, including the Indiana Basketball and Football Halls of Fame. He was named a Kentucky Colonel in 1980, received a Key to the City of Owensboro in 2000, and a Mike Blake bobblehead was unveiled in 2003. He is a graduate of Loras College with a Bachelor of Arts in Political Science and the University of Iowa with a Masters in Speech and Dramatic Arts. After graduating, Blake served in the United States Army and spent eleven
and a half months in Vietnam, eight of which he was on Armed Forces Vietnam Network Radio and TV network. Blake and his wife, Jennifer, have been married for 46 years and have four children – Christine, Michael, Bill and Patrick – and nine grandchildren.