ALBANY, Ga. (WALB) - The Albany Area Chamber Foundation hosted a workforce development event on May 9 at Albany Technical College.

This event, called THRIVE, was designed to equip Dougherty and Lee County students who have disabilities with “essential employability skills,” according to event organizers. They said that includes practicing job interviewing and professional networking.

Jay Houston, the Albany Area Chamber of Commerce Director of Communications and Talent Initiative, said this hands-on event allows students to connect with business leaders in the community.

“What we hear so much from our businesses is that we have a lot of great talent here, but they don’t have the soft skills like eye contact, smiling, shaking hands, how to have conversations,” Houston said.

Other points of focus for organizers included making sure students knew what to wear and what not to wear to job interviews. Bruce Mattos with Phoebe Putney Health System said he believes this is a great way to promote equity and inclusion.

“In some ways, [these students] may be the forgotten group, and we have to take care and give them the opportunities that they deserve,” Mattos said.

Other volunteers like Krystal Santos with Turner Job Corps and Aunquarius Brown-Reed with SOWEGA Rising call THRIVE an invaluable initiative because these students are given networking opportunities they probably wouldn’t have access to otherwise.

“It is my honor to take the information that I’ve been given and give it back to our upcoming workforce,” Santos said.

Brown-Reed said his goal is that students feel empowered to know that they can do whatever they want to if they put their mind to it and, “keep thinking forward.”

To learn more about how your business can take part in THRIVE, call the Albany Area Chamber of Commerce (229) 434-8700.

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