 The Minnesota Department of Labor and Industry was in Bemidji today to assess the area workforce needs. Reporter Cheryl Moore has a recap of the meeting. How do we find workers with the right skills? That was the question at the start of the workforce conversation held in the Mayflower Building in Bemidji. The meeting was facilitated by officials with the pipeline program. The pipeline program really exists to support employers in developing their own dual training programs. And by that we mean related instruction paired with on-the-job training that creates a very powerful learning experience for existing and new employees. Pipeline stands for private investment, public education, labor, and industry experience. Right now, pipeline focuses on job training programs for four industries, which are advanced manufacturing, information technology, healthcare services, and agriculture. Pipeline is branching out to Bemidji to see where they can be of service. We realized that we can easily become kind of honed in on our home base in the metro area, so we feel it's really important to get out across the state and get to talk to people from all over. So we've been really excited to come up to Bemidji. A little over a dozen Bemidji area businesses and companies who are part of today's meeting, they discuss their successes and their challenges that they face in the area. We had great representation from employer partners, from the community and technical college system, from nonprofits, from staffing agencies, but really industry leaders from the area all came together today. The next steps will be taking the information gathered from the discussion today and creating effective on-the-job training to fill the workforce needs. We met with employers who were coming from a couple of different points in their exploration of what this program could look like for them. So our team is prepared to meet with them and help move them along in the process of developing programs. We also learned a lot from them about what various challenges they're facing and how pipeline could be a part of the solution. Reporting of Bemidji, Shromor, Lakeland News. Some challenges addressed during the meeting include cost of living, transportation needs, and childcare for workers. If you enjoyed this segment of Lakeland News, please consider making a tax-deductible contribution to Lakeland PBS.