The Business Employment Skills Team (BEST, Inc.) worked with JoCarroll Energy and Wolf Line Construction to establish broadband technician standards in response to the lack of fully trained technicians in the northern portion of the workforce area.

BEST, Inc. also assisted two Career, Technical, and Education (CTE) institutions with career exploration materials. The Whiteside Area Career Center (WACC) received virtual reality goggles; both WACC and the CTE Academy in Hanover received career exploration virtual experiences to bring much-needed career and training information to the emerging workforce!

The partnerships with JoCarroll Energy, Wolf Line Construction, Whiteside Area Career Center, and the CTE Academy were an effort to retain local emerging talent and to make them aware of the skills needed for higher-paying opportunities available in broadband infrastructure installation.

To support JoCarroll Energy’s training needs, BEST, Inc. established a training lab and provided training funds for instructors at Morrison Institute of Technology to train JoCarroll apprentices. The Train-the-Trainer instruction was completed in June 2024, and apprentices will begin their instruction in the fall.