Workforce Development
Workforce development efforts are expanding with creative strategies including support services, credit for work, on-the-job training, mentorship, and place-based learning. A key challenge is ensuring training programs lead to true career pathways with living wages, as not all growing jobs earn a living wage.
Trinity County Perspective
Across the North State region, 45% of private-sector jobs sit within firms of fewer than 50 employees, and 68 cents of every dollar spent at local businesses stays in the local economy. For a county of roughly 15,600 people where small business *is* the economy, these numbers underscore why workforce development and business development must run in parallel — training workers without simultaneously supporting the employers who will hire them is a dead end in a place like Weaverville.
The regional strategy's emphasis on train-in-place models is especially critical here. Transportation and childcare barriers that are inconveniences in urban counties are deal-breakers in Trinity County, where a "nearby" training program can mean a two-hour round trip on mountain roads. Stipends for equipment, childcare, and transportation aren't nice-to-haves — they're the difference between participation and dropout. The High Road Training Partnership in Tribal Forest Restoration is already proving this model works in the region and aligns directly with Trinity County's forest economy and Tribal workforce.
The honest challenge: not all growing job categories pay a living wage, and Trinity County's cost-of-housing crunch makes that gap sharper. Board members should push for workforce programs tied to career pathways with real wage floors, not just job placement numbers. Industry sector partnerships — particularly in forestry, healthcare, and trades — offer the clearest route to matching local talent with local need.
High Priority Actions
4Focus on rural workers with long commutes, limited childcare, elder/retired workers, Tribal individuals, youth. Create low barriers to entry with support services.
Reduce transportation, childcare, and access barriers. Build support services like stipends for equipment, childcare, transportation.
Utilize Employment Training Panel programs, leverage High Road Training Partnership model, support businesses willing to hire locally
NoRTEC currently leads partnerships in manufacturing, technology, and rural healthcare. Expand model across sectors.
Challenges
6- Not all growing jobs earn a living wage (e.g., home health aides)
- Job quality ensuring training leads to career pathways
- Need for coordination between labor, workforce entities, and employers on wage floors
- Transportation barriers especially for youth and rural workers
- Childcare costs as barrier to workforce participation
- Limited public transportation in remote areas
Opportunities
5- Credit for prior learning and competency waivers reducing barriers
- Learn and Earn model with stipends for training
- Industry sector partnerships as effective workforce strategy
- Small business development and entrepreneurship as cornerstones
- High Road Training Partnership in Tribal Forest Restoration as proven model