Bringing People & Opportunities Together
COVID-19 in Ventura County: What are your resources?
We are experiencing some unprecedented times while our county and state have been under a “Stay Home Stay Well” mandate ordered by Governor Newsom and Ventura County officials. Workers are experiencing layoffs, and those workforce reductions are disrupting business as usual, leaving employers and our local economy in question. Many resources are becoming available to businesses and families impacted by the novel Coronavirus pandemic, COVID-19.

WDB Partner Recovery Resources Open To Serve

Business Consulting and Loans - 805-384-1800

To Apply for Unemployment - 800-300-5616

Job Seeker & Business Services - 805-288-8400








Bruce Stenslie , President/CEO Economic Development Collaborative and WDB Member, and Mary Navarro-Aldana , Employment Program Manager, Employment Development Department, joined KVTA host Tom Spence to talk about the COVID-19 disaster recovery resources available to Ventura County businesses and their employees.


Workforce Wednesday
Tune in to Tom Spence on KVTA 1590-AM for the next Workforce Wednesday, April 22, at 8:40 AM
Topic: COVID-19 Recovery Resources Update

WDB Applies for almost $1m in COVID-19
Dislocated Worker Grant Funding
The WDB submitted a preliminary application on March 27th to the Employment Development Department for a WIOA COVID-19 Disaster Recovery Dislocated Worker Grant (DWG) and Employment DWG for a total amount of $937,500. The Disaster Recovery DWG will provide eligible participants with disaster relief employment, employment and training services, and supportive services. Disaster relief employment associated with this National Health Emergency may include clean up, and recovery efforts, including sanitation of COVID-19-impacted public spaces such as schools, libraries, parks, job centers, and other public facilities, or the provision of humanitarian aid. The Employment Recovery DWG will temporarily expand the capacity to serve dislocated workers and to meet the increased demand for employment and training services for individuals laid off because of COVID-19.

Regional Plan Implementation/Slingshot 3.0
Additional Funding Awarded
The Workforce Development Board of Ventura County (WDBVC) was awarded $293,617 in Regional Plan Implementation (RPI)/Slingshot 3.0 funding. Funding will support efforts to develop regional leadership and organize industry leaders and workforce, education, and economic development partners to attain scale and impact. Notably, the WDBVC will use the Slingshot 3.0 funding to work toward priority goals as set in the three-year plan commencing in 2020. The four goals to be achieved in the next two years are:

  • Create a performance dashboard that tracks customers served by the AJCC and partner organizations so that we can track performance and facilitate continuous evaluation and improvement. 

  • Develop a regional work-based learning strategy that initially focuses on three occupational clusters by convening WDBVC regional partners to select industry clusters and appropriate apprenticeship models.

  • Align educational and training program offerings with industry needs by convening education institutions (K-12, Adult Education, Colleges, Universities, Certificate programs, etc.) and industry.

  • Analyze WDBVC board governance and legal structures by creating an ad-hoc committee to review and implement structures that best support the accomplishment of the priorities and goals.

WDB Honors 16 Years of Member Service
WDBVC Chair Tracy Perez recognized retiring WDB Board Members Cindy Guenette and Jesus Torres for their time and dedication while serving the WDB Board at the February 27th meeting.

Cindy Guenette is the Quality Assurance Manager at Hi-Tech Engineering and has served on the Workforce Development Board of Ventura County since 2015. While on the Board, she sat on the Manufacturing Committee. 

Jesus Torres is the CEO of LEAD Public Strategies and has served on the Board since 2009. While on the Board, he also chaired the Business Services Committee and sat on the Membership and Executive Committees.

Connect Ventura County
Worth The Read
The Workforce Development Board administers federal Workforce Investment and Opportunity Act funds that help to support America’s Job Center of California locations and other free adult, youth and employer programs and services in Ventura County.
Created in partnership with theAgency .

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