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Oklahoma Lt. Gov. Matt Pinnell speaks March 26 during a meeting at the Durant Area Chamber of Commerce. Matt Swearengin | Durant Democrat -
Business and community leaders attended a meeting last week at the Durant Area Chamber of Commerce where Lt. Gov. Matt Pinnell heard concerns about the workforce. Pinnell also visited the Choctaw Nation and the Oklahoma Works office. Matt Swearengin | Durant Democrat
Oklahoma Lt. Gov. Matt Pinnell visited Durant last week and he made several stops in the community as part of his workforce tour across the state to meet with business and community leaders to discuss the workforce issues they are facing.
Pinnell said his office started a workforce tour and that he previously visited Bartlesville, Grove and Lawton to learn about the concerns of business people and others in the community.
“We’re really going directly to the source,” Pinnell said, after speaking at the Durant Area Chamber of Commerce. “We’re going to small business owners and university presidents and everyone inbetween in communities to talk about pain points that they may have when it comes to workforce.
“Workforce is economic development. Durant’s not going to grow if we don’t have the workforce here that meets the demands of small business owners and so we talked today about childcare services and affordable housing issues. Infrastructure, that was certainly a point that came up today. Specifically, was when it comes to building homes, you have to have the infrastructure to build those homes. Everything from waterlines to bridge repairs. Those are the issues that really came up today in Durant and that’s not unique to Durant. A lot of more rural communities have basic infrastructure needs and a lot of waterlines that are 100 years old that have to be upgraded for communities to grow.”
Pinnell described Durant as the “front door” to the Dallas metroplex area.
“I firmly believe that if Oklahoma grows over the next decade it’s going to be because Durant and Ardmore and some of these other communities near the Dallas metroplex area grow and so growth is coming,” Pinnell said. “We want it to be the right kind of growth and that means keeping our homegrown boys and girls that are already in Oklahoma. Keep them here and let them go to career tech or one of our regional universities, and then stay in the state.
“So that was a lot of the conversation that happened today, but I’m going to be putting these notes that we take into a report for our workforce commission … to hopefully turn some of these best practices and some of the concerns that we’re seeing in communities, turn it into model legislation so that we can pass some good laws to help communities grow.”
After the meeting at the chamber of commerce, Pinnell visited the Oklahoma Works office in Durant.
“Those are offices that we’re really highlighting around the State of Oklahoma as we have close to 30 Oklahoma Works offices,” Pinnell said.
These offices, Pinnell said, can help people write resumes, offer interview coaching and assist veterans wanting to reenter the workforce.
“We have great veterans services representatives at these Oklahoma Works offices, so it’s not just filing unemployment at those Oklahoma Works offices,” Pinnell said. “There are a lot of people in those buildings that can help you get back to work as well and (provide) a lot of coaching services.”
After the tour of the Oklahoma Works office, Pinnell visited the Choctaw Nation.
Pinnell serves as Oklahoma’s Secretary of Workforce & Economic Development and he works with agencies such as the Department of Commerce and Oklahoma Employment Security Commission. Pinnell will also be visiting Clinton, Guymon and McAlester as part of his workforce tour.