NoCo Works launches at 2023 Workforce Symposium

Published on September 29, 2023

NOCO Works had its official launch at the 2023 Workforce Symposium at the Aims Community College Welcome Center in Greeley on September 26.

The Symposium, presented by Larimer County Economic and Workforce Development (LCEWD) and Employment Services of Weld County (ESWC), served as the perfect venue to kickoff NoCo Works, which is a regional coalition to create a holistic and aligned talent and workforce network in Northern Colorado. NoCo Works is a collaborative effort that represents the commitments of the two county workforce development teams’ memorandum of understanding (MOU) signed by Larimer and Weld’s County Commissioners in September 2022.

NoCo Works focuses on six key areas, and each has a task-driven committee generating regional-driven results: Economic Inclusion, External Barriers, Business Resources, Training and Development, Talent Pipeline, and Work-based Learning. “In order for NoCo Works' mission to be sustained, we must have this initiative owned and led by our community and our local businesses,” said Kelsey Baun, Regional Talent Program Manager for LCEWD and project lead of NoCo Works.

During the Symposium's opening session, NoCo Works displayed the Declaration of Commitment signed by all the steering committee members and organizations, modeling a powerful signal of philosophical alignment and collaboration across key stakeholders in the region.

“NoCo Works is an amazing coalition. Just look at that,” said Eric Lea, NoCo Works Co-Chair and Vice President/Branch Director of Robert Half, as he pointed to a screen behind him projecting the 26 regional partners who have contributed to this program. “NoCo Works has created a system to help you: the business, the employee, and the community member.”

“Northern Colorado is one economic entity when you look at it,” said Nicholas Spezza, NoCo Works Co-Chair and Associate Vice President of Academic Affairs for Aims Community College. “Forty percent of our workforce is shared across Weld and Larimer Counties. We have amenities, opportunities, and growth across this entire region. So, it was a brilliant brain trust that our two economic development groups from Weld and Larimer Counties signed this MOU.

Bill Johnson, Director of Human Resources at the Yoder Family of Companies, which is one of the regional partners for NoCo Works, was also invited to speak about the program’s potential. “In our current environment, employment is one of the single biggest issues confronting an organization and its ability to grow and thrive,” Johnson said. “The fact that these two separate entities can come together and work together gives our region an opportunity that very few in this country have.

NoCo Works held breakout sessions throughout the day at the Workforce Symposium focusing on the Business Resources committee, and the Training and Development committee. During these interactive sessions, participants were facilitated by a process to provide unique business insight and help generate concrete action steps for the two committees.

Both county’s workforce directors, Mark Johnston of Larimer County, and Karina Amaya-Ragland of Weld County, sit on the NoCo Works steering committee, signaling the regional commitment to engage the public workforce systems in northern Colorado.

NoCo Works is actively recruiting members for all six committees. To get engaged with NoCo Works, email Kelsey at kbaun@larimer.org and check out the NoCo Works LinkedIn page at https://www.linkedin.com/company/noco-works.

For more information on Employment Services of Weld County, visit https://www.weld.gov/Government/Departments/Human-Services/Employment-Services. For more information on Larimer County Economic and Workforce Development, visit https://www.larimer.gov/ewd.