Steering Committee Chair Chuck Offenburger

A new venture for one Greene County organization has announced several upcoming public meetings to help educate the overall goals and reasons for bringing a specific population.

Greene County Development Corporation is hosting public town hall meetings over the next two weeks about the former Greene County Diversity Project to the “Nueva Vida in Greene County,” or “New Life in Greene County.” GCDC Executive Director Ken Paxton says they are doing a new program to bring in Latinos into Greene County to fulfill the over 200 available jobs, as well as live in the county. Since last fall, Paxton says GCDC has been working with Carlos Arguello of Latino IQ. He talks about why they are concentrating on the Latino population.

“The largest growth segment in our country has been the Latinos. They’re established in our country, they like Iowa, they like rural locations, they’re a fairly good fit, they are already here and more are coming. Right now, probably the most viable channel. But once again, we not only looking at one channel, we are looking at multiple channels.”

The town hall meetings include: Monday, April 25th at Clover Hall at 5:30pm and Rippey Community Center at 7:30pm; Tuesday, April 26th at the Grand Junction Community Center at 5:30pm and the Loren Shriver Community Center in Paton at 7:30; Monday, May 2nd at the Scranton Community Center at 5:30pm and the Churdan Public Library at 7:30; and Thursday May 5th at 6pm at Clover Hall. 

There will be several speakers at each town hall, including Arguello, GCDC President Sid Jones, Steering Committee Chair Chuck Offenburger, Scranton Manufacturing Director of Operations Jim Ober and Greene County Medical Center Human Resources Director Mary Nieto. Paxton strongly urges people to attend a town hall to learn about the project, as well as provide comments and concerns.