Category: General

Employees of the Ho-Chunk Nation Labor Department are making special efforts to create opportunities for Ho-Chunk tribal members and all Native Americans to find employment.

On Tuesday, July 20, they were on the grounds of Whitetail Crossing in Black River Falls, talking to people, handing out information, and hoping to connect potential employees with employers.

HCN Tribal Workforce Development Case Manager Delores Krause, HCN 477 Federal Program Case Manager Stormy Perry, and American Job Center Youth Career Planner Michelle Burkhardt were on hand at Whitetail Crossing under a pop-up canopy to make those connections.

“There’s a shortage of workers right now and we’re doing what we can to get information to people who want to work,” Perry said.

The pop-up displays of information will be traveling throughout the state, going to Ho-Chunk communities such as Wittenberg, Nekoosa, La Crosse, Madison, besides the one they were at in Black River Falls.

Burkhardt, who works for Workforce Development in La Crosse, was one of many staff who met with Ho-Chunk representatives in a meeting last week to form a partnership and collaborate to get people working again.

“We enhance the workforce, meaning we connect them with programs for training, certification, and apprenticeship to give them the skills to be employed,” Krause said.

Burkhardt works with youth ages 14-24 to allow them to job shadow and apprentice, during which the youth are getting paid for their time.

(Photo, from left) Delores Krause, Stormy Perry, and Michelle Burkhardt are out in the public eye to promote their programs and to get people back to work.