Frank Mabley provided today's "Member Minute". Frank lived in Lynchville, VA for much of his childhood - the only non-Catholic attending the local Catholic schools. He went on to attend the University of MN, graduating in Physics, which led to a stint as a "rocket scientist" working for NASA. He returned to MN for law school and opened his own firm from which he just recently retired. Frank has the distinction of being the only remaining founding member of our Rotary Club - we thank him for getting this great organization off the ground and continuing his involvement for over 30 years!
With our scheduled speaker grounded by Covid, Mike Spellman called upon Ling Becker to step in. Mike worked with Ling during the time she served as Director of the Vadnais Heights Economic Development Council. She has moved on to a new position as the head of Ramsey County's Workforce Development. Unemployment in our county went from 3% pre-pandemic to a high of 10% in May of 2020. A year later unemployment has dropped significantly and there are 16,000 openings right now. Many businesses are struggling to find workers. There are multiple reasons for this. Firstly, the economy has opened up thanks to progress against the Covid virus. But many women have dropped out of the workforce due to child care concerns and there is a mis-match between the skills required for current job openings and the current skills of available workers - especially the need for more technical skills.