Area leadership needs help in keeping the best and brightest of the North Olympic Peninsula living and working on the North Olympic Peninsula, young professionals told U.S. Rep. Derek Kilmer.
Kilmer, D-Gig Harbor, also heard from Native American veterans during his Monday visit to the Peninsula, which is part of his 6th Congressional District.
Economic development and efforts to retain young people were the focus of discussion as Kilmer spoke with the Peninsula Young Professionals Network at the Cedars at Dungeness golf course’s clubhouse in Sequim on Monday evening.
“We want to export our products, not our kids,” Kilmer said.
Outsourcing
Group members said many born on the Peninsula move away when they reach adulthood because of a lack of opportunities.
“You’re here serving us now,” Port Angeles Realtor Brooke Nelson told Kilmer. “But there’s a reason you left.”
While he noted a place for government to act, Kilmer called on the business community to tap its resources and better market the Peninsula’s strengths to attract young talent.
“There’s an opportunity to guide economic growth here,” Kilmer said. “So what’s the best opportunity to engage?
“That’s not going to be dictated by a representative in Washington, D.C.; it’s going to be guided by the people in this room.”
Can’t get workers
While some complained about a lack of opportunity for youth on the Peninsula, others, like Heather Jeffers of Avamere Olympic Rehabilitation of Sequim, complained about not having enough qualified people to fill vacant job positions.
“Can we find people here who want to work? Who want to live here?” Jeffers asked. “I can’t keep positions filled because they keep leaving the area.”
Kelly Fox, CEO of Lumber Traders Inc., parent company of employee-owned Angeles Millwork & Lumber Co. and Hartnagel Building Supply, echoed Jeffers’ complaints.
Fox said he’s recruited from as far away as Florida for management positions because he can’t attract qualified applicants.
“I can’t pay enough in the community to entice great talent,” Fox said.
“The talent pool at the college, they’re leaving. There is not enough to keep talented people here.”
Education key
Kilmer vowed to work on boosting post-secondary education to better train workers.
He noted he voted against the congressional Republicans’ budget that would have increased interest rates on student loans and made students start repaying loans when they enter college.
“I couldn’t have gone to college if it hadn’t been for financial aid,” Kilmer said.
“We have to make sure that we can provide young people the opportunity to get the skills they need to fill those jobs.”
Native American vets
Earlier Monday, Kilmer spoke with native veterans at the Clallam County Veterans Center in Port Angeles about his Housing Native Heroes Act.
The bill, co-sponsored by Rep. Tom Cole, R-Okla., would provide rental assistance and supportive housing for homeless or at-risk Native veterans.
“Tribal members are disproportionately represented among our population of veterans and, unfortunately, among our population of homeless veterans,” he said.
Tribes are not included in federal programs to find homeless veterans housing, he said, and the bill is aimed at fixing that.
“We need to do whatever we can do to get veterans in their own homes,” said Jerry Charles, a tribal veterans representative for the Lower Elwha Klallam tribe.
One problem in implementing such programs, however, is a lack of federal recognition of tribal veterans organizations, said Lavada Anderson, who works with the Suquamish tribe and who asked Kilmer for help in getting them better training and pay.
Tribal veterans representatives also asked Kilmer for help in obtaining more doctors for Native American veterans.
Charles said dental care coverage is an especially big problem for all veterans, not just Native Americans, because of stringent Veterans Administration eligibility requirements.
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Sequim-Dungeness Valley Editor Joe Smillie can be reached at 360-681-2390, ext. 5052, or at jsmillie@peninsuladailynews.com.
