Wis. Dept. of Workforce Development Mobile Career Lab coming to Colfax
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By LeAnn R. Ralph
COLFAX — Residents in Colfax and the surrounding area will soon be able to visit the Wisconsin Department of Workforce Development’s Mobile Career Lab when it visits Colfax the first Thursday of each month.
Lisa Bragg-Hurlburt, director of the Colfax Public Library, spoke to the Colfax Village Board at the April 22 meeting about the Mobile Career Lab parking on Main Street near the public library.
Bragg-Hurlburt received an e-mail message from Amber Hoffman at the Department of Workforce Development’s Eau Claire office on April 18 asking if the library would be interested in having the mobile resource visit Colfax.
The Job Center location in Eau Claire provides information to people who are searching for jobs, helps job seekers with resume assistance, helps people file unemployment claims, provides resource referrals, helps people conduct career research and provides one-on-one appointments with career planners. All services are free and open to the public, according to the e-mail message.
The Mobile Career Lab is a Job Center on wheels and has computers and a printer for the public to use as well as resource brochures and is staffed by a DWD worker to assist people one-on-one, the e-mail message states.
The Mobile Career Lab would be in Colfax one afternoon per month from 1 p.m. to 4 p.m., Bragg-Hurlburt told the village board.
Bragg-Hurlburt said she would like the Mobile Career Lab to set up near the library because the library also serves job seekers.
“I am trying to develop the library as a community resource hub,” she said, adding that she knows parking along Main Street is limited.
“We have started our Mobile Job Center outreach in a few local communities recently and received excellent feedback. The vision is to create a monthly rotation where we visit the same communities each month. We hope to partner with libraries or other community locations … these events do not require a lot of set-up, just use of some space to park on the road. Again, all services are at no cost,” according to the e-mail message.
Parking lot
Could the Mobile Career Lab park in the parking lot in the back of the municipal building? asked Margaret Burcham, village trustee.
Lynn Niggemann, village administrator-clerk-treasurer, said she was thinking of having the Mobile Career Lab park in the dedicated police parking spot in front of the municipal building, which would leave parking spaces open farther south on Main Street so members of the public have a place to park when they are visiting local businesses.
The Mobile Career Lab would be finished for the day and out of Colfax by the time Music in the Park starts Thursday evenings, Niggemann said.
If the Mobile Career Lab parks in back of the municipal building, that could interfere with musicians who are coming in early to set up for Music in the Park. A better location would be on Main Street, she said.
Different spaces
Maybe it would be better to try different parking spaces and see what works best, said Carey Davis, village trustee.
The Mobile Career Lab could try parking by the police department and then a little farther south on Main Street, and if neither space works out very well, try something else, he said.
The Colfax Village Board unanimously approved accepting the offer of the Wisconsin Department of Workforce Development to bring the Mobile Career Lab to Colfax the first Thursday of each month from 1 p.m. to 4 p.m.
The Mobile Career Lab is expected to make the first visit to Colfax the first Thursday in June.
Voting in favor of the motion were Village President Jeff Prince, and village trustees Clint Best, Margaret Burcham, Carey Davis, Anne Jenson, Jen Rud and Gary Stene.
