Email: cwalker@networkstn.com
Website: linkedin.com/in/clay-walker-cecd-67bbb18
Location: P.O. Box 747 Blountville, TN 37617
Phone: 423-279-7681
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Twitter: @ClaytonRWalker

Hot Streak

Project Activity Heats Up in Q2;

Announcements Made, More on the Way

As temperatures have climbed this spring and early summer, project activity also has elevated. While both have brought a little perspiration to the brows of the NETWORKS Sullivan Partnership staff and partners, the latter has been welcomed after months and sometimes years of work are paying off. And on nearly all fronts, as this quarter’s newsletter illustrates.

In the product development department, we have seen great strides made by Chad Baker Construction in the excavation of a 50ish-acre rail site in Partnership Park II in Bristol. This project is being funded by our NETWORKS investors as well as a $1 million High Impact Site Development Grant from the Tennessee Department of Economic and Community Development. We also have identified some land in Kingsport for further development as our partners agreed when we decided to prep the rail site. Developed sites are a must in today’s industry recruitment arena and we can’t get these sites graded soon enough. Meanwhile, our shovel-ready sites continue to get most of the attention of prospects, most notably the sites in Bristol Business Park, owned and developed by BTES. NETWORKS Director of Economic Development Michael Parker has done a great job of overseeing the grant and development of our rail site as well as working with our community partners in Kingsport, Bristol, Sullivan County, and Hawkins County as we look to identify and prep more sites as part of the work of our Properties Committee.

Another ongoing project is our workforce portal website, again made possible by a $50,000 grant from TNECD. Working within the framework of our Workforce Development Committee, chaired by NESCC’s Dr. Sam Rowell, Workforce Development and Special Projects Coordinator Abby Mease has done an outstanding job in guiding The Marketing Alliance in building this site. When completed, the primary objective of the site will be to serve as a conduit for our workforce, employers, and educators, not just connecting them, but to provide a deep dive into what types of careers are available here, what training is required in those careers, and what resources are available to assist business and industry in training. The hope is this will lead to more fulfilling, successful career path choices for our workforce and efficiencies and connectivity for our business and education communities.

Speaking of our existing industry, Economic Development Specialist Ronnie Price, whose primary focus is existing industry visits, has picked up the pace on company contacts as our businesses move toward full staffing coming out of COVID protocols. We have a great deal of reason for optimism from what we have learned recently from these companies, but we also are trying to offer some assistance with their challenges. Workforce issues and supply chain are the most glaring hindrances these days and we are exploring and, in some cases, have implemented creative ways to help in each.

One such initiative that has shown early promise – and results – came about as the result of one of Department of Labor and Workforce Development Commissioner Jeff McCord’s regular tours across the state with his staff and my meeting Eric Horton. Eric retired from the Army a few years ago after a decade of service and was then the Department’s Director of Veteran Affairs. (He has since been promoted to Director of Business Solutions.) Eric had only recently joined Dr. McCord’s staff but expressed a clear vision for connecting retiring military and preferred employers facing a workforce shortage triggered primarily by the COVID-19 pandemic. We exchanged information and within a couple of weeks, met in Nashville.

Over plates of The King’s French Toast at Puckett’s Restaurant, we designed a plan to get our region’s major employers engaged in job fairs at Fort Campbell Military Base just outside of Clarksville. We also scheduled a time for Eric to talk about programs to assist in this endeavor on a Zoom call with our industries as well as those throughout the region, with the help of NeTREP Vice President of Business Development Alicia Summers.

Various companies from Northeast Tennessee have been to recruitment events at Fort Campbell over the past year – I’ve been there twice myself – with some hires being made and a few ideas on how we can optimize this resource. One Sullivan County company recently filled five high-skilled positions from this rich labor pool which gives us a great deal of enthusiasm going forward.

As we work through the dog days of summer, labor will remain a priority, especially in light of recent announcements. Stories below reference Advanced Call Center Technologies, a business process outsourcing provider, announcing in June two new contact centers, one in Kingsport and another in Bristol, bringing a total of 650 new jobs to our region. Almost exactly a month prior, we were celebrating Tri-City Extrusion’s expansion with the purchase of one of the aforementioned developed sites in Bristol Business Park; the $31 million project preserved more than 150 jobs and will create 51 new opportunities.

We are working on several other projects right now that we hope to see announced in the upcoming weeks as this summer is shaping up to be our most successful in recent memory. In order to keep this momentum, we must take our workforce development efforts to greater heights as well as continue to develop shovel-ready properties. I know that between our Board of Director's leadership and the elected leaders that make up our investing partners, we will keep the heat turned up. So, keep your suntan lotion handy and stay hydrated. It’s going to be a long, hot summer!

Contact center to open facilities in Kingsport and Bristol

Advanced Call Center Technologies (ACT) will add 650 total jobs to its Tri-Cities workforce and fill an empty call center as the company opens new “inbound contact centers” in Kingsport and Bristol.

“These are new projects serving new clients of ACT,” NETWORKS-Sullivan County CEO Clay Walker told News Channel 11. ACT has more than 2,000 current employees at sites in Boones Creek and Johnson City.

One of the sites will occupy the former Agero call center. That company still has a large number of employees in the area but shifted its model to home-based work during the COVID-19 pandemic and has decided to retain it.

Click for more

TNECD press release

Tennessee Gov. Bill Lee, Department of Economic and Community Development Commissioner Bob Rolfe, and Tri-City Extrusion, Inc. (TCE) officials announced today the company will invest $30.8 million to expand its manufacturing operations in Northeast Tennessee.

TCE will create 51 new jobs as the company increases capacity and constructs a new 120,500-square-foot facility at the Bristol Business Park, a Select Tennessee Certified Site.

Due to an increase in customer demand, TCE’s Sullivan County expansion will strengthen production and allow the company to upgrade its manufacturing equipment. Once completed, TCE’s new facility will house a brand new 14-inch, 5,550-ton press and adequate space for product distribution.

Click for more

TNECD press release

For 17 days, including 13 with rain and/or snow and sleet and one with a low of 35 degrees, Eric Horton rode a bicycle from Memphis to Kingsport.

"Veterans don't quit," said the U.S. Army veteran and director of veterans services for the Tennessee Department of Workforce and Labor.

Horton had help from fellow veteran Jeff Dent in a chase vehicle and Steve Playl, assistant commissioner in the department's Division of Workforce Solutions, who rode about 160 miles with Horton. Horton and Playl joined local veterans employment representative Scott Vaughn, who works at the American Job Center (formerly known as an unemployment office) in Kingsport, Thursday afternoon (More)

Click to watch his interview

Thanks to a Three Star grant NETWORKS was awarded on behalf of Sullivan County, it was a busy couple of days in April with Marketing Alliance in town working on videos for our workforce portal. Thank you to all our community partners who took time out of their day to participate.

A morning well spent learning of ways to make our communities in Northeast TN, even more, accessible and inviting to everyone.

NETWORKS was proud to be one of the community sponsors of an event that opened the dialogue about the principles and practice of Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion. We look forward to using these principles every day.

Website: https://deialliance.org/2022-summit/

Thank you for all you have done for workforce development in Northeast TN, you will be missed.

Tennessee College of Applied Technology (TCAT) Jackson has appointed Heath R. McMillian as executive vice president of the college’s Blue Oval City Campus now under development at the West Tennessee Megasite. Click for more

Chris Tomlin, Max Lucado, and Gary Levox headlined a special Easter celebration service at BMS prior to the race.

WATCH: Trackside Spring 2022 at Bristol Motor Speedway

Thunder Valley Nationals

Back in Bristol on Father’s Day Weekend, NHRA Stars made Some Noise

Bruton Smith, who helped grow the NASCAR fan experience at his tracks with visionary ideas, died from natural causes. He was 95.

Smith founded the company that is Speedway Motorsports and owns nine tracks that host Cup races, including Nashville Superspeedway, which hosts the NASCAR Cup, Xfinity and Truck Series this weekend.

(Click for more)

Email: mparker@networkstn.com
Website: linkedin.com/in/michael-parker-5179115a
Location: P.O. Box 747 Blountville, TN 37617
Phone: 423-279-7193
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/NETWORKStn/
Twitter: @FIRST_to_WORK

Email: amease@networkstn.com
Website: www.linkedin.com/in/abby-mease-1b69a98
Location: P.O. Box 747 Blountville, TN 37617
Phone: 423-279-7680
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/NETWORKStn/
Twitter: @AbbyatNETWORKS

Email: rprice@networkstn.com
Phone: 423-279-7681