EKCEP's Pike County JobSight has been honored by the United States Dept. of Labor (DOL) as one of six model one-stop centers in the eight-state southeast region.

DOL sent a crew to Pikeville in May to film JobSight operations and interview JobSight management and staff, program participants, and employers who have used JobSight services. The resulting profile of the center and its services became part of "One-Stop South," a 40-minute video featuring the six exemplary one-stop centers in the southeast.

"One-Stop South" is scheduled to be shown at the fall Southeastern Employment and Training Association (SETA) Conference in Mobile. AL, on September 29-October 2, 2002. The video received a small preview showing at the national Workforce Innovations 2002 Conference on July 8-11 in Nashville, TN.

A substantial amount of footage from the Pike County JobSight that was not used in "One-Stop South" was used in DOL's multi-media "Workforce Innovations 2002 TeamBase" presentation in the exhibit hall at the national Workforce Innovations 2002 Conference on July 8-11 in Nashville, TN. The high-tech, multi-screen "TeamBase" presentation featured highlights of successful one-stop and workforce development operations from across the nation, presented in four coordinated video presentations entitled "Workplace of Tomorrow," "Workforce of Tomorrow," "Job Skills of Tomorrow," and "Partnerships of Tomorrow."

Segments filmed at the Pike County JobSight figured prominently in the TeamBase video presentations, which used JobSight background footage as well as clips of interviews with JobSight participants, JobSight staff, and EKCEP staff, including Executive Director Mable Duke, One-Stop Manager Jennifer Thacker, and One-Stop Coordinator Mark Stone.

Factors in the selection of the Pike County JobSight included its location in a brand new multimillion-dollar community college facility—which places it in a unique position to deliver the services of all its partner programs to people at all stages of career development—and its creative partnerships with local employers to help meet their demands for skilled workers.

The Pike County JobSight is on the joint Pikeville Campus of Mayo Technical College and Prestonsburg Community College.

The Pike County JobSight is a full-service one-stop that provides on-site services to the many different types of students who attend the school, as well as drawing nonstudent customers into the community college environment and making them aware of new educational and career opportunities. Because the school is both a community college and a technical college, the student population represents all stages of career development —from dropouts who are trying to earn a GED, through recent high school graduates pursuing technical certifications or postsecondary degrees, to single parents or dislocated workers upgrading their work skills in order to return to the job market. All are potential one-stop customers.

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Some demographic background on Pike County, KY:

Pike County is the geographically largest county in Kentucky. It is also the easternmost county in the state, situated where the eastern end of Kentucky comes to a point. It borders both West Virginia and Virginia. Pike County's population of 68,736 is dispersed throughout the mountainous and very rural county. Pikeville, the largest town, has a population of approximately 6,500.

Approximately 21 percent of Pike County residents live below the federal poverty line. Median personal income is $19,105. Median household income is $27,837.

For 2001, the official unemployment rate was 4.6 percent; however, actual unemployment runs from two to three times the official percentage, due to discouraged residents who have quit seeking work and therefore fallen out of the tracking system, and to a significant percentage of the population who have never been in the system.

Of the people who are working, the highest percentages are employed in trades (25.2 %) and service industries (23 %). Mining and quarrying jobs account for 15.5 % of employment, with government and education jobs close behind at 14 %. Construction and manufacturing jobs each account for about 2.9 % of local employment.