Meghan Lynch

Meghan Lynch
Business Outreach Librarian
Chester County Library

On November 15, 2017 The Chester County Library Economic Development hosted 44 attendees from 16 community organizations and representatives from libraries throughout Chester County at a workforce development informational networking meeting. Planned in coordination with the Chester County Workforce Development Board, the goal of this meeting was to bring together workforce stakeholders from around the county to share information about programs and services and to hold a discussion about how to create new partnerships or extend existing ones.

Meghan Lynch, Chester County Library’s Business Outreach Librarian, spoke about library resources to support the un- and underemployed in Chester County, as well as resources to support nonprofits in our community. Presenters from Chester County’s Economic Development Council, PA CareerLink, and the United Way Financial Stability Center educated attendees about how they provide complimentary services in order to support the educational, financial, health, and emotional needs of the job seeking community. The floor was then opened to discussion as to how we can create or extend partnerships to try promote these resources and make them more available to citizens that may have barriers preventing them from accessing these services.

The feedback we received was overwhelmingly positive. Attendees stated that they were pleased with the connections they had made, how much they had learned, and were looking forward to sharing the information with other members of their organizations. We hope to continue this conversation between members of the Chester County Library System and our local workforce development organizations in order better support jobseekers in our community.