 On Tuesday, October 3rd, Pikeville City officials and local business representatives gathered at the Appalachian Wireless Arena for coffee and commerce. The goal of the meeting was to discuss current workforce development strategies alongside networking with one another. Pikeville's Executive Director of Community Relations Jill Dotson tells us more. Coffee and commerce is something that we extend to our business community as a way for community partners and businesses to come together to talk about issues they are facing, some places they can get help for their workforce and that's what we're doing here today at this particular coffee and commerce. I think the one thing that was a commonality between all of our businesses and city leaders that were here is that we want to find the right employees for our businesses. We want to find the right skill sets and the right workforce and sometimes you have to branch out and look at different areas and different avenues and different skill sets to accommodate those needs. So having those conversations and being able to talk amongst people that might be facing some of these issues has really been beneficial to have those conversations. You want to save money and Appalachian Wireless gets that. Right now you can get up to $650 off select devices including the latest and the greatest on the advantage and limited plan with a trade-in. Did y'all hear me? Up to $650 off select devices including the latest and greatest with a trade-in. I'm not a math whiz but this deal it's amazing and you'll be on the region's premier network. We are you. We are Appalachian Wireless. One of the main talking points was how large and small businesses can create jobs for people who want them. They want to not only generate interest in jobs but equal employment opportunities. Well I think first of all just looking for people who are hiring, looking for something that you might have an interest in or maybe it's not something that you've worked in in the past, something that you've always had an interest in that you may want to delve into that aspect of the workforce. But certainly if you are looking for opportunities to gain employment and to try your hand at something maybe a little different than what your career had been in, you can reach out to Big Sandy and their workforce solutions. They have a lot of different people who contact them that are looking for those right people to fill those positions and just keeping an open mind to keep an open ear to where those opportunities may be.