The Partnering for Progress Fall Mixer on Wednesday, 11/3, at Hotel Versailles had a great turnout. Many Darke County business owners and Politicians attended the event not only to learn about workforce projects and economic development activities but also to do some networking.
Mike Bowers mentioned the recent attention and awards Versailles received: Versailles was named by Ohio Magazine as one of the 5 best Home Towns and FFA Versailles is the Nations Number 1 FFA Club. Then he thanked the sponsors of the event, Pepcon & Poeppelman Materials Co., GNB Banking Centers, and Classic Carriers, Inc
Bowers then handed the microphone to Tamala Marley, the workforce specialist of DCED who did a phenomenal job in working with the schools and businesses. She gave a quick update on the achievements. Marley mentioned that they just celebrated their 9th Darke County Sophomore Manufacturing Day. Schools were invited to bring their Sophomores out to visit a local manufacturer. Marley thanked the companies for hosting these groups and their continuing support.
Darke County Job Shadowing will be held on Nov 14th-18th which will include Seniors as well as Juniors.
Last year, DCED coordinated over 140 job Shadowing slots in 50 different career positions with nearly 35 employers (even without the Health care employers, which didn’t participate in this program for 2 years because of a well known reason), Marley shared. This year they topped the 200 number with around 220 job shadowing spots in over 70 different career positions with over 40 employers here in Darke County
Marley as well as Bowers stressed that all this is only possible with the support of the schools and the employers.
Bowers also informed the attendees about the plans for the future and that the DCED is looking into anything that’s needed to move Darke County forward and looking into workforce needs, such as child care, housing and transportation.
After that, Jack Olshan, Managing Director of Hotel Versailles and Silas gave some insight about the Hotel Versailles and Silas. The new Hotel and Restaurant was built as a show piece, something this area can be proud of, something unique even beyond Darke County. Everything in this building was sourced locally. Same applies to the ingredients, Silas uses, wine, minibar-content, etc.
And it “paid off”. Under 6000 applications nationwide for upscale Boutique Hotels, Hotel Versailles won the title “Best Upscale Boutique Hotel”. Also, Hotel Versailles is officially the first 4 Diamond hotel (AAA rating, 1 to 5 Diamonds) in Darke County and surrounding counties. There are a total of 17 4-Diamond hotels in Ohio.
