FAIRMONT– At its monthly meeting on Monday, the Martin County Economic Development Authority (EDA) talked about the potential to start a new workforce development project that would focus on high school students throughout the county.

Board Member Richard Koons, who is also a Martin County Commissioner, said that some preliminary conversations have been held with Fairmont Career Force about starting a high school graduate apprentice program.

“MVAC (Minnesota Valley Action Council) has a program for those kids who don’t graduate or probably aren’t going to graduate. They help find those kids short-term internships in the hopes of getting them a job,” Koons said.

He also pointed out that Martin County hosts the summer internship program, in partnership with MVAC, which is for students who have graduated from Martin County schools and are pursuing a high education. The program has long been regarded as successful and aims to entice students to move back to the county to live and work after graduating college.

“There’s a gap between those,” Koons said. “We’re hoping to get something started for those kids who aren’t going to go to college.”

The students could go on to explore mechanics, manufacturing, plumbing or some other area in the hopes of helping them find something they’re interested in and can train in.

Jaime Bleess, who is also both on the EDA board and a county commissioner, said that the employer would get a break for taking the time and effort to train the student.

He pointed out that as with the existing county internship program, the idea would be to get students to come back to or in this case, stay in the area to live and work. He noted that the existing program has seen success in this.

“We’re looking to maybe duplicate that in an area that is underserved. From an EDA standpoint, we would see the value of it for our employers,” Bleess said.

The two have met to discuss the project several times with Tammie Hested from Fairmont Career Force and Amber Patten, an EDA consultant, said they have another meeting coming up that will include area CTE (careers in technical education) and ag teachers.

Board Member Steve Fosness pointed out that there’s already job fairs and college fairs, but that it would be nice to have something just for the trades.

“The trades are already set up for internships so when they come here they’re competing against vocational schools and everyone thinks they need a degree,” Fosness said.

Koons and Bleess plan to bring the idea forth to the rest of the Martin County Commissioner board in the future, but the EDA board was overall in favor of it.

Board Member Brent Schultze said that his workplace does an internship program every summer and that it is beneficial because it provides an opportunity to see if someone would be good on staff full-time.

“We actively seek out local kids to come back and see if it will be a good fit. It works both ways– to see if it’s a fit for the kids and a fit for the business,” Schultze said.

Board Member Wes Anderson said that he believes it would be a good program and something that he thinks should start with the schools, which others agreed with.

“To have a partnership with Tammie at Workforce, knowing how successful she is… we have a willing partner here and it seems like it’s the time to try it,” he said.

Koons added that they’re looking at potential funding sources and repeated that the idea would go to the full board of commissioners in the near future.

In other action, the board:

— Approved remaining grant funds for a Martin County accessible entrepreneurship program.

— Approved setting up Martin County EDA- specific Facebook and LinkedIn social media pages.