Southeast AlabamaWorks, the workforce council that serves Pike County and nine other neighboring counties, will disband by the end of September as a result of a funding loss, according to WDNews. After the Alabama Workforce Transformation Act was passed in 2024, which reduced funding for all AlabamaWorks organizations, the 2015-founded organization will no longer operate.
Southeast AlabamaWorks has played a crucial role in bringing together local companies, sectors, academic institutions, and job seekers. By stating, “We do a lot of work to connect businesses and industry to education and jobseekers,” Executive Director Katie Thomas highlighted the significance of their work.
The organization has been in charge of organizing a number of events annually, including the Southeast World of Works, a student career discovery event. The event, which takes place twice a year on the east and west sides of the region, drew more than 4,000 pupils and 500 volunteers last year. Along with career fairs, STEM workshops, and other educational panels, Southeast AlabamaWorks also hosted résumé and interview competitions for local high school graduates, with scholarships awarded to the victors.
But the Alabama Workforce Transformation Act’s financial burden forced the tough decision to close. According to Thomas, the legislation that was passed in March 2024 is directly responsible for this. The act reorganized the resources previously allocated to local workforce development initiatives and redistributed workforce development throughout the state.
According to Thomas, the group had to decide whether to raise half a million dollars a year or shut down. The closing of Southeast AlabamaWorks will make it the fourth AlabamaWorks organization to do so this year.
Though Thomas stressed that these boards will not carry out the same tasks as Southeast AlabamaWorks, the new regional workforce boards established by the Alabama Workforce Transformation Act will largely manage federal WIOA money. They are exclusively in charge of the funds that are sent straight to the state’s career centers. Thomas continued, “That doesn’t involve any of the work that we were previously doing.”
Thomas emphasized the closure’s effects, pointing out that the area will lack workforce development resources as a result. According to her, it means that people will have to wait to see if any local positions through the Department of Workforce become available and rely only on the workforce development directors at each community college. Career centers are unable to help as many people as they formerly could due to a staffing cut this year.
The Southeast AlabamaWorks team will also be directly impacted by the shutdown. According to Thomas, we all lost our jobs as a result of the dissolution. She is currently searching for a new job, as are her coworkers Kathy Smyth and Dana Hendrix. We are all searching for new possibilities because we have a wealth of expertise and abilities to give.
Thomas and her team are still going ahead with their planned events in spite of the upcoming split. According to her, we still have a full schedule of work to do by the end of September. A job fair at the Dothan Civic Center in August, two STEM teacher conferences in July, and the Workforce Champion Award ceremony with the Dothan Area Chamber of Commerce in September are among the upcoming events.
