Help for El Dorado, Alpine, Placer small businesses
By Darrell Smith, Sacramento Bee
An estimated 22,000 businesses call Placer, El Dorado and tiny Alpine counties home.
For much of its existence, the Auburn-based Golden Sierra Workforce Investment Board has focused on matching workers with those businesses, building a pipeline between potential employee and entrepreneur.
The federally funded investment board works with local businesses and business groups to provide job training, placement and other employment-related services.
But firms in these mostly rural counties are struggling under the weight of a sluggish economy. As unemployment in the region soared, Golden Sierra has shifted its focus, said Executive Director Jason Buckingham.
