NATCHEZ, Miss. –The city, county and school boards agreed today to hire Tuwanna Williams as Natchez-Adams County’s workforce-development director, a newly created position to strengthen local efforts to train people and attract more businesses.
The Natchez Board of Aldermen, Adams County Board of Supervisors and the Natchez-Adams School District Board of Trustees met jointly to officially select Williams. Her employment is pending a formal agreement on her compensation and approval by the state workforce-training office.
Williams has workforce-development experience at Copiah-Lincoln Community College and with the state Department of Employment Security.
Williams was among 11 applicants for the new city-county position, said Natchez Mayor Dan Gibson. She was recommended by a search committee as the best person for the job, and the three boards agreed today by voting for her. In their public meeting, board members didn’t discuss why Williams is most qualified and what experience she has.
Williams has been Co-Lin Community College’s Workforce Innovation and Opportunity Act recruiter and college navigator since 2015 at its Natchez campus, according to her resume. That work involved cultivating relationships with businesses and industries and helping students find jobs. She also has experience drafting documents for grant applications. She received her master of business administration degree from Delta State University in 2013. Williams is a U.S. Army veteran.
Gibson — the leading proponent of creating a city-county workforce development program– has been touting Williams for the new position since September. However, board members wanted to allow others to apply for the job before a final decision.
Gibson has said Williams will know what skills local businesses demand and how to get state and federal grants for meeting those needs.
While new businesses – such as biofuels refinery Velosys – have recently decided to set up shop in Natchez-Adams County – “we’ve got a person in place to bring us to the next level,” the mayor said.
Among Williams’ first tasks is to seek state or federal grants by a January deadline to help fund Natchez-Adams County’s new program, Gibson said.
The mayor said few other Mississippi cities and counties have a workforce- development coordinator, and what’s being established in Natchez-Adams County is a model for others to follow. Mississippi recently created the state Office of Workforce Development to put more emphasis on more people having skills for more jobs.
Williams’ salary is to be $65,000 a year for managing a local workforce development program with a $100,000 annual budget funded by the three boards in equal shares, according to previous board discussions. Gibson has said funds for this might comefrom the American Rescue Plan, a federal program that appropriated money to cities and counties to help recover from economic setbacks caused by the COVID pandemic.
Williams will work at Natchez Inc., the community’s industrial-recruiting agency funded by public and private funds.
While they’ve agreed on who’ll be the workforce-training director, the city, county and school boards in upcoming meetings will formally adopt their agreement detailing how to jointly run the program.
Board members today applauded their cooperation to create the worker-training alliance. “Teamwork makes the dream work,” said Adams County Supervisor Ricky Gray, reciting his oft-used phrase about local officials working together.
In earlier discussions, Gibson said he envisions converting Natchez High School’s Steckler building into a vocational-training facility. It was originally built as the Natchez Convention Center and later transferred to the school system for its use.
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