Play Live Radio
Next Up:
0:00
0:00
0:00 0:00
Available On Air Stations

Pierre Starts Work Interns

The city of Pierre is putting together an internship program for high school students. The program hopes to help solve a local workforce shortage.

Pierre has received a grant to help the city’s workforce development. The city plans to recruit students from Riggs High School and the Stanley County School District right as they’re graduating. The program targets students that don’t plan to go to college and connects them with local business leaders.  Pierre Mayor Laurie Gill says the project hopes to do more than just give students a job.

“Well in this instance we’re going to actively search and work with the school to find the students that might fit our criteria. Go look for them and show them that there are some ideas here and some things they might be interested in. And we’re also going out and finding the businesses that are also looking for somebody that might be looking for a career path. And so it’s probably a little more in depth, a little bit more proactive. And having some folks facilitating this and bringing the two together, so that we can have a successful liaison between a student and a business,” says Gill.

Gill says the economy in Pierre is strong.  But there are not enough local workers. The city plans to track the progress of the project and collect useful data for the future.