This week in business news

Here are some business-related news items and other stories relevant to your community that were of interest this week

WorkSource hosting statewide Manufacturing Virtual Hiring Event Aug. 19

Although COVID-19 has put in-person hiring events on hold, individuals interested in manufacturing jobs can “meet” companies from across the state at a virtual hiring event on Wednesday, Aug. 19, from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. 

More than 25 companies are seeking to fill a variety of manufacturing positions. Southwest Washington companies include Church & Dwight Company, LifePort, Neil Jones Food Company, Pacific Seafood, Smak Plastics and Vigor Industrial. 

Registration is required at https://bit.ly/33ZqH0y. The free event is accessible from computer, laptop, tablet or smartphone. Job seekers can upload a résumé and during the event can explore company booths andtalk with recruiters via live, text, video or voice-based chat. 

While the local WorkSource centers are not accepting in-person visits due to the COVID-19 pandemic, services are available virtually including job search support, funding for job retraining, workshops and classes, connections to housing, childcare, transportation, food assistance and other support services. View information about the WorkSource centers in Vancouver and Kelso and local job openings at www.WorkSourceSWWA.com.

Workforce Southwest Washington (WSW) funds services, provided by organizations like WorkSource, Next, Goodwill and Partners in Careers, that help people gain skills to find a good-paying job or advance in their careers and help companies attract, train and retain workers. Our investments strengthen the region’s businesses and contribute to a strong economy. A nonprofit organization founded in 2002, we’ve invested more than $100 million in Clark, Cowlitz and Wahkiakum counties. Learn more at www.workforcesw.org

WorkSource is a statewide partnership of state, local and nonprofit agencies that provides an array of employment and training services to job seekers in Washington State. Customers access services electronically through www.WorkSourceWA.com or through a network of more than 60 WorkSource centers, affiliates and connection sites. Visit the Southwest Washington website at www.WorkSourceSWWA.com.

Partnership announcement at Vancouver Innovation Center

New Blueprint Partners (NBP) is currently formulating and in the process of executing a planned mixed-use development at the former HP campus in East Vancouver. The live-work-play community, formally known as the Vancouver Innovation Center (VIC), is announcing its partnership with inspec facility group, inc (IFG) to re-position the fully functional institutional kitchen facility located at the VIC into a premier food collaboration, research, and development and production facility with office space and common areas.

IFG will conceptualize and redesign the existing 8,300-square-foot kitchen and over 20,000 square feet of additional space to provide a one-of-a-kind facility that offers collaborative spaces for food innovation as well as production and office spaces, along with common areas. The facility will accommodate both start-ups and companies already in full-scale production. Upon completion, the VIC expects to host food innovators, start-ups, and local food purveyors seeking a front-to back-solution to the challenges of starting and growing a food-oriented business. 

IFG Principal Taro Toyoda said, “Both IFG and NPB believe the concept of a truly local food chain, combined with the movement toward home meal replacement, are setting the tone for a sustainable future. We are committed to creating sustainable and creative environments through food innovation.”

Inspec facility group is one of the Pacific Northwest’s premier engineering, procurement, and construction (EPC) firms, headquartered in Portland. 

About the Vancouver Innovation Center

The Vancouver Innovation Center is an exciting new mixed-use development where good living, work, play, and community come together to create a place that combines everything there is to love about authentic Northwest life. Residential, retail, office, light-industrial, pedestrian improvements, and public spaces meld to create a highly livable and unique community in the heart of East Vancouver.

Joanna Yorke-Payne
Joanna Yorke is the managing editor of the Vancouver Business Journal. She has worked in the journalism field since 2010 after graduating from the Edward R. Murrow College of Communication at Washington State University in Pullman. Yorke worked at The Reflector Newspaper in Battle Ground for six years and then worked at and helped start ClarkCountyToday.com.

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