Thanks, G - those are some good ideas. I will throw them in the mix during our brainstorming session later today.
It's a MI thing, as far as I know. We have a non-profit called Michigan Works that started out focusing on the manufacturing sector, securing training and jobs for displaced workers from that sector. At my previous job, we used them to find new employees and they were generally more reliable than those individuals we found through temp agencies. Now, they're opening up a bit and the guy we work with works exclusively with food-related companies in the area.
I've reached out to my contact to see if he's aware of similar programs in other states and will let you know what I find out.
Thanks, again, G!
If anyone has any additional ideas, I'd love to hear them. My brain can't seem to get off the basic HACCP-type stuff which is definitely important but if we can come up with more than one training session, we can start with the basics and move forward to more of the in-depth stuff like G came up with, food security, etc.