ROANOKE, Va. (WDBJ) – September has been designated as Workforce Development Month.
Here @ Home Toni McLawhorn, Business & Development Manager, Greater Roanoke Workforce Development Board to talk about the variety of workforce development services in our region and the partners who provide these services.
The Greater Roanoke Workforce Development Board is a non-profit organization funded by Federal and other grants.
Its mission is to convene the agencies in our region who provide workforce services, so that they can coordinate or collaborate on services for patrons.
A couple of years ago, the Governor of Virginia created a new state agency to oversee workforce in our Commonwealth, thus the creation of Virginia Works.
There was some reorganization of existing agencies, the most common one being the Virginia Employment Commission.
Prior to this new agency, the regional Virginia Career Works Centers had VEC employees who could directly help with unemployment issues, as well as help them in finding employment and getting back to work.
Now, all work of the VEC is done centrally through Richmond, with Customer Care phone lines.
There are no more regional VEC employees.
Those folks now work for Virginia Works and are charged with helping people find employment.
The easiest way to locate the Center for your residential area is to Google “Virginia Career Works (name of city or town), and it will pop up.
Then go to that website to get the contact information.
These Centers can offer job seekers assistance with developing a resume, searching and applying for jobs, and so on.
If they need help from one of the partner agencies mentioned earlier, they can be referred for that assistance.
For assistance in the Greater Roanoke region, visit:
Virginia Career Works Roanoke Center, 707 S. Jefferson St., 3rd Floor
OR
Virginia Career Works Covington Center, 106 N. Maple Ave., Covington
Virginia Works staff are also available on Tuesdays at The Franklin Center, 50 Claiborne Ave., Rocky Mount.
Copyright 2025 WDBJ. All rights reserved.