About Us

The Northwest Georgia Workforce Investment Area is a cooperative effort of agencies, organizations, and businesses in fifteen Northwest Georgia Counties. The counties include Bartow, Catoosa, Chattooga, Dade, Fannin, Floyd, Gilmer, Gordon, Haralson, Murray, Paulding, Pickens, Polk, Walker, and Whitfield.

The Northwest Georgia Workforce Investment Board and the Coosa Valley/North Georgia Council of Chief Elected Officials selected the Region One Northwest Workforce Consortium as operator for the Northwest Georgia One-Stop System. The Consortium consists of Coosa Valley Regional Development Center, Georgia Department of Labor (7 offices), Georgia Department of Technical and Adult Education (7 local colleges), the University System of Georgia (2 local colleges), Division of Family and Children Services (15 offices), and Georgia Division of Rehabilitation Services (4 offices).

To further the goal of having a common, seamless workforce development system, the partners are establishing a series of one-stop career centers throughout the region. Visit our Locations section for our One-Stop Career Center locations & photographs. One-Stops are a great place to start your job search.

CareerDepot.org was developed to provide universal access by our customers to information about resources in our region in the areas of employment, education and training, supportive services, etc. The Youth Success Academy web site was developed to provide information to youth and people who work with youth. We welcome your comments and suggestions for improvement.

The Northwest Georgia Workforce Development Project was one of seven programs in the United States selected for the 1998 Workforce Development Award for Excellence by the National Association of Counties (NACO). The Project was selected for program innovation, addressing regional problems, collaboration and coordination, and transferability to other service delivery areas.

Customer Service

The customer is the driving force of the process.
The customer chooses the services he or she wants from the available services.
The customer sets the pace for services and the level of activity he or she undertakes.
Staff helps with activities and services as requested or as indicated by each individual situation.

Our Common Beliefs

The Northwest Georgia Workforce Development System is a cooperative effort of agencies, organizations, and businesses in fifteen Northwest Georgia counties. The partnering agencies and organizations share the common beliefs that:

The ongoing economic prosperity of the Northwest Georgia area requires a well-regarded mechanism for connecting individuals and employers in our community both to jobs and training opportunities.
Participating in a common venture to offer services through workforce development centers provides improved, quality service to our customers, both individuals and employers.
Collaborating through workforce development centers maximizes limited resources and gains increased flexibility of resources and services.
Cooperating in a common workforce development system fosters responsive service delivery with the focus on customer need rather than individual programmatic rules and regulations.
Working in a common workforce development system removes external barriers that impede all systems from meeting their goals and objectives.

One-Stop Time Line

Spring 1996 began discussions with DTAE about funding a position to Coordinate the One-Stop system.
July 1996 Workforce Development Coordinator position funded to work on implementing One-Stop system in 15-county region.
Held more than 35 area organizational one-stop meetings with interested agencies between July 1996 and March 1997. Agencies included Department of Labor (DOL), Family and Children Services (DFCS), Rehabilitation Services (DRS), Technical and Adult Education (DTAE).
March 1, 1997 JTPA Directors, Department of Labor Job Training Division, and Department of Family and Children Services Field Service Directors met to discuss ways to coordinate and collaborate in providing services to clients under the new welfare reform legislation.
April 1997 CareerDepot.org went online with links to and information about community and agency resources for customers.
May 9, 1997 Career Depot at Walker Tech (Northwestern Technical College) grand opening with computer lab, internet connections, resource room with career information, clothes closet, etc. available to customers. Walker Co. DFCS was collection site for clothes closet donations.
Spring 1997 Commissioner of Labor Poythress, Department of Human Services Commissioner Olmstead, and Technical and Adult Education Commissioner Breeden signed an agreement to pool efforts on education, employment services and jobs skills training for one-stop shopping. Nine implementation teams were established with representatives from state and local offices to begin creating an integrated service delivery system.
July 1997 began pilot integrated assessment project at Walker Tech. Project ended December 2000.
1997 awarded Outstanding Model for Collaboration - Employment Assistance at the Georgia Workforce Development Conference.
Winter 1997 Dalton Department of Labor became a one-stop shop with multiple agencies and organizations including DFCS on-site part time
Winter 1997 Gwen Dellinger, JTPA Director, met with DFCS managers from 15-counties to determine needs and set priorities for WtW funds.
One-Stop Grant for $84,000 received from Georgia Department of Labor May 1998. The Commissioner of Labor commended Northwest Georgia for developing a well-though out proposal, taking into account universal access, customer choice, and maximizing connections among agencies. She also stated that the broad inclusion of community partners was impressive. We were later awarded an additional $84,000.
July 1, 1998 began providing services under WtW grant.
Summer 1998 - Calhoun/Gordon County Campus of Coosa Valley Tech opened a Virtual One-Stop Computer Lab on Saturdays. The lab was open to the public.
September 1998 - One-Stop Shop grand opening held at Coosa Valley Tech in Rome. Partners included DOL, DFCS, DRS, and WIA.
Fall 1998 - 1999 Staff participated in Georgia Work Connection Common Intake Pilot
Fall 1998 DOL offices began receiving supplies and equipment purchased with One-Stop grant to set up resource rooms for the general public.
November 15, 1998, the WaCaDaCha Workforce Development Project received NACOs 1998 Award of Excellence for Workforce Development.
December 1998 held first Ready, Set, One-Stop meeting to which DOL, DFCS, DRS, DTAE and other agencies and organizations were invited.
February 1999 sponsored a shared assessment workshop to which all partners were invited.
April 1999 held Grand opening of Pickens Tech (Appalachian Tech) Career Resource Center (one-stop shop).
September 1999 began Work-in-Action (WIA) training sessions for all partners in region.
Fall 1999 North Metro Tech opened it Employability One-Stop Center.
Spring 2000 Dalton and Fort Oglethorpe Career Centers among 6 in state selected to pilot the integration of DOL services in preparation for WIA.
Summer 2000 Region One Northwest Workforce Consortium initiated a Memorandum of Understanding agreeing to a one-stop system. Participating agencies included Coosa Valley RDC, DOL, DFCS, DTAE, DRS.
September 2000 WIB and partners noted above signed a Memoranum of Understanding Pursuant to the Workforce Investment Act of 1998.
September 2000 WIB and CCEO named Region One Northwest Workforce Consortium as operators for the Northwest Georgia One-Stop System. Dalton Career Center was designated the region=s full service one-stop center; 6 DOL offices and 7 colleges plus their satellite offices were designated affiliated one-stops; CVRDC, 15 DFCS offices, and 4 DRS offices were designated specialized one-stop sites.
January 2001 Youth Success Academy went on-line.
January 2001 integrated WtW eligibility/DFCS assessment form developed to use as part of a pilot project.
Spring 2002 Dalton Career Center notified that it was selected to served as Georgia=s model Full-Service One-Stop in the one-stop video being produced by the South Carolina Media Center. The video will be shown at the Workforce Innovations Conference July 2002 and the SETA conference Fall 2002.

Web Site Information

Our web site is sponsored by the Northwest Georgia Workforce Investment Board (WIB) and the Coosa Valley and North Georgia Council of Chief Elected Officials (CCEO), Gwen Dellinger, Director, CVRDC. For web site or Newsletter information and materials, contact Karen E. Howell, Workforce Development Coordinator, CVRDC, P.O. Box 1793, Rome GA 30162-1793, phone & fax 706.277.7466, mobile 706.537.2207, work schedule.

Links to other sites are provided for information purposes only. Providing links is neither an endorsement nor approval of the organizations sponsoring the sites nor of their products or services. The Career Depot is not responsible for the availability or content of other sites.