Job center set to open in Pahrump

Alana Roberts

Friday, April 22, 2005 | 10:46 a.m.

With the hope of improving opportunities for residents in rural Southern Nevada, state and Nye County business and government leaders have teamed up to bring an employment and training office to Pahrump.

"The whole community has gotten behind this," Victoria Balint, director of the new Nevada JobConnect office in Pahrump, said. "This is employer-driven, meeting the needs of the employers and working with service providers to provide the higher-skilled wage earner."

The effort to bring the JobConnect office to Pahrump is a partnership between the Southern Nevada Workforce Investment Board, the Nye County Commission and the Pahrump Valley Chamber of Commerce. The office, which will group 11 businesses and job training service providers under one roof, debuts with a grand opening May 7.

Balint said the Southern Nevada Workforce Investment Board allocated $400,000 to the Pahrump Valley Chamber of Commerce to be used for the office's start-up costs. Nye County purchased about 30 acres of land and the building to house the JobConnect office and other community-based organizations and agencies for about $3.2 million.

Balint said the JobConnect office is necessary in order to assist rural residents with job training. She said the effort is also targeted to provide trained workers to local businesses and to attract new businesses to the area.

"Our challenges are really tenfold," Balint said. "We don't have the services that the Clark County agencies do out here. We're almost forced to partner to maximize those resources."

The office will offer residents in Nye, Lincoln, Esmeralda and rural Clark counties a place to look for and train for jobs at no cost to either the job seekers or the employers. The office will be located at 2101 E. Calvada Blvd., in an area that is considered the heart of Pahrump and is known as the Calvada Eye. Community and county officials hope to further develop the area as a hub for addressing the social needs of the community.

Candice Trummell, chairwoman of the Nye County Commission, said leaders in the area hope to increase job opportunities for rural residents through the JobConnect office. Trummell also sits as a board member on the Southern Nevada Workforce Investment Board.

She said the goal of local leaders is to change that so Nye County residents can live and earn a living in the same community, instead of commuting to Las Vegas.

"There just aren't the jobs here that pay livable wages," Trummell said. "Unless you work for the government you have to go to Vegas to get a livable job. The workforce investment board is trying to attract higher paying jobs such as construction, the trades, plumbing, electricity, any sort of factory work, potentially a nuclear industry."

As a poker dealer at the Terrible's Town Casino in Pahrump, Trummell, 26, said she understands what its like to struggle to earn a good living. She said she also earns $22,747 a year as a Nye County Commissioner.

Both Balint and Trummell said businesses such as construction firms and manufacturers are looking at Pahrump and the surrounding areas as a place to set up shop and are bringing more jobs to the area.

Kari Frilot, executive director of the Pahrump Valley Chamber of Commerce, said the Nye County area is growing along with Clark County, albeit at a slower pace.

"As you know how well Las Vegas has been growing -- we're getting overflow from that," Frilot said.