Amy Souza is making it work for Wyoming Workers Artwork

Authentic Wyoming

Engaging, funny, and rarely – as in never - at a loss for words, Union’s Tressa Barnes and Myra Robinson are on a mission to celebrate and highlight the businesses and organizations that help grow, foster, and care for those who live in the communities Union serves in Wyoming, and some of our closest neighbors in Colorado, and Utah. (They’re practically Wyomingites.)

In conversations running a gamut of topics, you’ll get insight into what drives the entrepreneurs and small business owners that make Wyoming tick. You’ll laugh. You may cry. But mostly you’ll come away with a better understanding of the Cowboy state and its people.

We hope that others will be inspired to support these efforts or follow in their footsteps in altruistic undertakings of their own. Because a journey of a thousand miles always begins with a single step.

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Authentic Wyoming

Amy Souza is making it work for Wyoming Workers

October 29, 2024 • Union Telephone

Her title is Rock Springs Center Manager for Wyoming's Department of Workforce Services. What the title doesn't convey is the compassion, understanding, and unique problem-solving skills Amy brings to helping people find employment.

Authentic Wyoming

Episode #35 ~ Amy Souza,

Original Air Date: October 29, 2024

This transcript was generated automatically using speech-to-text technology. The accuracy may vary in spots.

Tressa

Look at us, Myra, smiling away today.

Myra

I don't know if I can catch my breath. No, I don't know. I'm happy. I'm happy this time. I'm in better spirits. I feel like people were more appalled last week of my sadness, just like the flatline, you know, like I feel like poor old Todd didn't know what to do.

Tressa

haven't even spoken and you're making, you're like laughing.

Tressa

Thank God. Good, good.

Myra

I feel like it threw him just for a loop. And for those out there, Todd is one of our coworkers and I was sad per the last podcast and he did not know how to handle me not being just ridiculous and funny.

Tressa

Yeah, I think he did have a heart. He's like, maybe Myra needs a nap.

Myra

Yeah, he was not okay. He's like, I think he was trying to solicit cookies for me or something. I don't know. I said a two week European vacation would maybe do the trick, you know.

Tressa

Well, we're so used to you being fun and quirky and wild. I mean, it happens. You had every right to feel sadness with everything that was going on, but yeah.

Myra

Yeah, yeah.

Myra

Yeah, it's pretty funny because, you know, I don't know, everybody was like, wow, she's sad. But just as much as I am fun, I am also very sad when I'm sad. So I guess it kind of, it is what it is, but yeah. Yeah. Well, it's all good now. I'm all good now. Yeah. Things are back to normal, you know.

Tressa

you

Tressa

Yeah.

goes both ways. Yeah, yeah, I get that. But go ahead. Good. Yeah, things are getting back to normal. Just some...

Myra

There's just a lot of trauma around it. There'll be a lot of healing to come. And what's really cool actually is

BetterHelp is offering a free three months to all residents of Western North Carolina. And I thought that was really neat, know, of all the ways to help out people. BetterHelp, for those that aren't familiar with the platform, is a mental health platform where you can get connected virtually with therapists or whatever resource that you may need.

Myra

And what's really cool actually is BetterHelp is offering a free three months to all residents of Western North Carolina. And I thought that was really neat, know, of all the ways to help out people. BetterHelp, for those that aren't familiar with the platform, is a mental health platform where you can get connected virtually with therapists or whatever resource that you may need.

Tressa

Mm-hmm.

Myra

and they're offering all those services for free, which is really cool.

Tressa

That is really cool. That's very cool. Yeah

Myra

Yeah, it's the brands that do things, you know, and what they're trying to do and how they're helping.

Tressa

Mm-hmm.

Yeah, that makes a huge difference. I heard Eric Church, I don't know if he just released the song or if it was a song that was released and he's donating all of the royalties or any money that that particular track makes to North Carolina. And then isn't Luke Combs doing something too? Yeah.

Myra

Yeah. Yeah. So, the thing with Eric, I really want to know how that works because all of the money that the forever, so any revenue that that song generates will go to the residents of Western North Carolina in some format. So it has to be connected to a organization. You know, I don't know how, but that's really cool, for him to do that. But what Eric Church and Luke Holmes just did was announce a concert.

Tressa

Yeah, like forever, I think. Yeah.

Mm-hmm. Yeah.

Okay.

Myra

And so tickets go live at Thursday at 10 AM. I have an alarm set. But the concert will be in two weeks. I am. They'll be in two weeks, but I want to go because I've never seen Luke Holmes live, but I think it's really cool to be in that setting and they're doing it at Bank of America Stadium. So it'll be a stadium concert. won't be just in like a normal venue and.

Tressa

You're getting tickets.

Mm-hmm.

Myra

Billy Strings will be a part of it, but James Taylor. And so I'm like, Ooh, yeah. You know, I have an alarm set. She wants to go. I said, heck no. has to watch my kids. Like she's over here like plotting and planning to go to this concert. I said, I don't know how to tell you this. Yeah. I'm like, pop it down. You know, I'm like,

Tressa

Yeah. Is Joan going? Yeah, I'm like, you gotta take your mom. This is right up.

I don't think so, grandma.

Myra

I don't know how else to deliver the news to you, but on that evening you will be sitting at home with my children." And so, yeah, she laughed and she's like, well, wait a minute. But I don't know, Bank of America is very weird with how the parking is in Charlotte. And so you have to walk a really, really long distance just to get to the venue. It's not easy. so even Jeff was like, I'd love to go, but...

Tressa

Mm-hmm.

Yeah.

Myra

Where are we walking? You know, they don't walk well. we take them, the concert would be over and she'd be showing up. Yeah, like, hey, yeah. But yeah, they're doing it fast. I mean, it's the 26th of October. Yeah. And all the proceeds will go to us for North Carolina. So I would like to try to get tickets. It will be through Ticketmaster. And so who knows what this experience will be like, but.

Tressa

Yeah, right.

Show up at 2 o'clock for a 7 o'clock show.

That is fast. Yeah, that's awesome.

Myra

Yeah, I don't know. And people are saying, you know, they're probably going to charge something outrageous, but I feel like that would be very off brand to do a benefit concert and then charge like Taylor Swift era tickets. You know what I mean? Yeah. Something it's all ridiculous and concerts right now are ridiculous in general. So I don't know, but it could be really cool to go and I'd like to go. So.

Tressa

I do too. Yeah, like five, six, yeah. I don't even know what Taylor Swift costs, but yeah.

Yeah.

Myra

Tune in next time, maybe I'll go, you know, who knows? We'll find out. But yeah.

Tressa

Yeah, we'll find out next time, listener land.

Yeah, what's the most you've ever paid for a concert ticket? Yeah.

Myra

me. I paid $450. But I also saw multiple people on the same day.

Tressa

400.

Look at us, Myra, smiling away today.

Myra

Tressa

haven't even spoken and you're making, you're like laughing.

Thank God. Good, good.

Myra

Tressa

Yeah, I think he did have a heart. He's like, maybe Myra needs a nap.

Myra

Yeah, he was not okay. He's like, I think he was trying to solicit cookies for me or something. I don't know. I said a two week European vacation would maybe do the trick, you know.

Tressa

Well, we're so used to you being fun and quirky and wild. I mean, it happens. You had every right to feel sadness with everything that was going on, but yeah.

Myra

Yeah, yeah.

Tressa

you

Yeah.

goes both ways. Yeah, yeah, I get that. But go ahead. Good. Yeah, things are getting back to normal. Just some...

Myra

There's just a lot of trauma around it. There'll be a lot of healing

A festival, yeah.

Tressa

Okay, like a festival. Okay, that's a little different then. Yeah.

Myra

Yeah, what's the most you've paid?

Tressa

think it was for a Pink concert and it was like 270, 280 somewhere in there. That's a lot of money. You know? Like let's go back to $17 a ticket. I mean I know it's not gonna go, but that's, you know, yeah.

Myra

Yeah. Yeah. It is a lot of money. I, yeah, I, I don't know. Yeah. Yeah. Well, it's just weird. I don't know. I mean, I think about it cause now I'm not just thinking about myself and I think about like, okay, well does my husband want to go or would Nola want to go to that concert? And I don't mind. I love to take her and she likes music. So.

When I start adding all these people to it, I'm like, when it's just me, it's like, sure, I'll pay $500. But when it comes out $1,500, you're like, that's a little, you sound great on iTunes, baby. I'll just plug in my AirPods and yeah. Yeah, actually, do you remember when we were at CES? And CES is for those that don't know, it's like a technology type conference where they show.

Tressa

Mwah.

Yeah.

a little much. Yeah.

Just yeah, and imagine the concert.

Myra

all the new gadgets that are coming out. And I mean, it's beyond gadgets. It's like flipping submarines that are like, what AI powered. Yeah, that's it. Yeah. It's saying, yeah, it's crazy. But we were at the LG booth and they had those really big speakers that did like the, not surround sound, but the immersive sound. Blake bought me one because, yeah, he did. Cause I was like, that's the

Tressa

yeah.

Consumer electronics, yeah, it's anything and everything, yeah. Yeah.

Yeah.

Mm-hmm. Yep.

Really?

Myra

coolest thing I've ever seen in my life and the whole energy of that space because they had these speakers on the tables and so you walk in and then you hear all this immersive sound around you and it's like whoa. So yeah, I'll just do that at my house. We'll just play. I got this really bougie speaker and I'll just be immersed in my pretend concerts at my house.

Tressa

There you go. Yeah. Yeah.

You

Now there's something to be said about the energy of being in a venue and having live music and the whole thing, but yeah.

Myra

yeah, yeah. So anyways, maybe. We'll see. Yeah.

Tressa

Well, keep us posted. We'll ask next time. Be the hot topic for the next podcast. Yeah, we'll find out. Don't mess up, Ticketmaster. We ready to bring our guest on today? Yeah.

Myra

Yeah, I'll either be really happy or really mad at Ticketmaster, so it could make for a great episode. Yeah. Yeah. my gosh. Well.

Yeah, so today's guest is Amy Souza. She is the Center Manager of the Rock Springs Department of Workforce Services. Hey Amy.

Tressa

Amy.

Amy Souza

Hello, good afternoon ladies. How are we doing today?

Myra

We are going and doing.

Tressa

We are great.

Amy Souza

Yeah, I'm listening to all this concert talk and I'm excited for you.

Myra

Yeah, you ready to go? You coming down? Yeah.

Amy Souza

Yeah, I just got back from one. think I'm done with concerts and driving for a little bit.

Tressa

Head on down to Charlotte.

Myra

Yeah.

Tressa

Who'd you see?

Amy Souza

I went and saw Vlogging Molly in Arizona.

Tressa

wow, that's cool, very cool. Well Amy, we're so glad that you could join us today. Do you want to just kind of tell us a little bit about your background and how you came to manage Workforce Service Center?

Myra

that's fun. that's cool. That is cool.

Amy Souza

Absolutely. So I was actually born and raised in the Pacific Northwest in Oregon. And I started my journey with case management in the school district in my hometown. I spent probably about seven to eight years working with vulnerable youth. So homeless and foster care children. And then more recently I worked a lot with students that have dropped out of high school and are trying to find a different avenue to get their GED or their HICEP.

The last five years I've worked in Rock Springs at the Workforce Center. For those I was a youth case manager. So I started up a, we're working with adult education, we started up a youth program that incentivizes these kiddos to go to school. then in the last year and a half or so I was promoted and I just oversee the center and the team.

Tressa

Wow, that's great. So you've always kind of wanted to be in a career, from what you're telling me, where you can really make an impact. Yeah.

Amy Souza

Absolutely, yeah. I have a passion for people that just need someone to walk through life with them, whether it's a kiddo that needs some support or a team that I can help lead and help them get their goals done. Yeah, I have a passion for people.

Tressa

I love that.

Myra

I love that. I love the way you said, for people that need someone to help walk through life with them. I love that. It's beautiful. I've never really heard someone put it that way. And I think that that really stands out. And it stands out for what you're trying to accomplish through the center. And I think that's great. So along those lines, what are some of the programs that you have been a part of or are proud to be a part of?

Amy Souza

in Wyoming, we get to offer so much through our office that I know that most people do not realize the resources that we actually have. When you go to a workforce center, which we have 18 workforce centers across the state of Wyoming, and all of them have these programs, and there's the power program that we work with, we can help, and that's the cash assistance TANF program. So we partner with Department of Family Workforce Services.

And our part in that program is to work with the people receiving the TANF grant, helping get them work ready, right? So we start where they're at and then hopefully, but they can get off of power quickly and be in a self-sufficient job position. And then we also have our WIOA program, which is our Workforce Innovation and Opportunity Act program. And this has got federal funding that can upskill people that qualify for the program.

We can pay for upskilling like CDL, CNAs. We can help apprenticeship programs, apprenticeship, plan operations, so many things. With that program, WIOA, we can train for up to two years. We can get people degrees or certifications. And we have programs that fund or that support

mock interviews for people that need help. We have programs that's rapid response programs. just had Blackview Coal lay off a bunch of people just here recently and we were able to hold two rapid response services and get a hold of those dislocated workers, help them get their unemployment set up. Some of them are in training. Some of them are, they utilize other avenues. We can partner with Department of Vocational Rehabilitation.

There's so many things we can offer people that live in Wyoming that need some support. And it's all geared toward helping people find work.

Myra

Mm-hmm.

Tressa

That's amazing. So like how do you assess the needs? Like how, obviously you're in that community so you knew about Black Butte, right? Or do they reach out to you before they do a major layoff like this and say, hey, you know, how do we partner with you? What does that relationship look like?

Amy Souza

I know. Yeah.

So we have between myself, my case managers and my business representatives, my business representatives really try to tether amazing relationships with the local community, local businesses. So we support them by posting jobs and they, know, when we see a job and we've got a participant or someone that we're helping, we can kind of pair them up and through those relationships, we also have made sure they know like if there's a layoff,

especially in something as high profile, as the mind, but as small as anything, we can help get these people connected with the needs that they might have. We also work closely with Western Wyoming Community College, right? They know about us and our program, so if they have someone that comes in and who they're like, they may qualify for not just this Pell Grant, but maybe this program as well, they send them our way. And that's the same with...

family resource center. It's really all about letting people know that you're resource there and connecting with other resources and other businesses to make sure that if someone falls that we can be there to catch them.

Tressa

Yeah, that's great. It's really interesting, like we've had some other organizations like Wyoming 201 and different organizations like that on United Way. The more that I've learned, the more I understand how closely you guys can interact with each other, right? And you guys really have a network where one organization can talk to another if the fit isn't.

quite right for them. And I really love that, how you guys are networking together to really help the community.

Amy Souza

Mm-hmm.

I really love the, I hate the idea of stay in your lane when it comes to resources for people. I really like the idea that we partner our services, right? If someone is not quite ready for a job yet, but they, because they have some barriers, maybe there's a diagnosis, a mental health diagnosis or a physical one. They can work with Department of Voc Rehab.

Myra

Mm-hmm.

Amy Souza

and they work with them and as soon as they're ready to start working, then they can pull us in and they can say, okay, they're ready to go to work and here's what they're thinking they need and we help the resume, we help the upskilling and so it's really beautiful when people take those lane sensors like you have on your car. When you take those lane sensors off and you start just communicating and maybe even bumping a little bit, like, I didn't even know this one was here because my funding can't cover everything.

Tressa

Yeah.

Myra

Yeah.

Amen.

Amy Souza

is a small state and population so it's not like we're getting the top funding for anything. know what I mean? So it works to depend on each other and help each other.

Tressa

Right.

Yeah, absolutely.

Myra

Yeah, so what is the process? I know you've talked some of it, but if I was to come in today and my situation was to change, what would the process be like, you know, if they're coming to the center?

Amy Souza

Yeah, well when someone walks in, the first thing we do is make sure we ask if they've served, because veterans do have vet preference. You would sign in and my wonderful front desk lady, Corrine, would say, what can we do for you today? And it would really depend. You could say, I just got laid off. I need to file for unemployment and I need to think about my next step. So we get you on the phone to unemployment. Support that piece right there.

And then when you come out we would support helping you get everything set up on the computer for for unemployment then discuss with one of the people in the resource room and let's say you're like man, you know My business closed down. I wasn't making a lot of money, but I need to find something really fast I need to do something but I don't have any skills or certifications I'm really interested in the medical sector, but I don't know what I can do there

Well then they'd say, you know what, my gosh, we have some certification programs that are short term like CNA and phlebotomy. Let's get you with a caseworker to see if you're eligible for a program that can help fund this certification process. Then when you're done with the certification process, you're going to work with that case manager to do your resume. Then we're going to partner with the leaders in the medical industry that we know and say, guess what, I have a brand new CNA that's also a phlebotomist.

They lost their job, have a family, you know, they're a family of three or whatever and she is ready to go to work, he or she, and that's what we do. Sometimes it's little pieces of that long story. Sometimes it's, I mean, I had a person that was laid off from Haliburton, he had worked there for 20 plus years. He got laid off, he needed to do something and I talked to him, I said, what would you, if you could do anything, what could you do?

And he said, I would love to be a middle school math teacher. I'd love to be a middle school math teacher. And I already got my associate's done. just need to finish my bachelor's. And that's what we did. I enrolled him into my program. I worked with him for two, two and a half years. And he just got done and is going to be working for positions as a middle school math teacher. he's one of my favorites.

Myra

That's awesome.

Tressa

That is so cool.

Myra

Yeah.

That's incredible.

Tressa

So with those programs where you can help them get a degree or certification, is that funded or partially funded or what does that look like or does it depend?

Amy Souza

Well, it is funded. It's completely funded. So it's a federal grant that we get from the federal government. So every state gets WIOA money. And we have different pots we can pull from. Let's say you were laid off like my Halliburton guy. Well, you'd be considered a dislocated worker. So I'd pull from that funding. And I could take a certain amount of money out and put it dedicated towards your upskilling and supportive services as they arrive.

Tressa

Okay.

Amy Souza

You know, if you need tires to get to and from school, I also can use some of that funding for things like that. If you're, let's say you're in power, right? You're getting that food and cash assistance, you're in power, and you really want to go to school and get some certifications. Well, you can qualify as an adult and I pull out of that pot. If you're a youth that has left traditional school, I do hate the term dropout, but if you've left traditional school and you're looking to get your,

your equivalency in a different way. Well, I have lots of money for out of school youth, right? And I can spend money to help get you your certification. We can go into post-secondary, we can go into apprenticeships. There's so much we can offer.

Tressa

So you're in Rock Springs or Sweetwater County and you mentioned there's multiple locations across the state. So does every county have a facility like yours?

Amy Souza

I do believe so. I'm trying to think. mean, there's 18 centers from Evanston to Gillette to, I mean, Cody, Warland, Cheyenne, of course, Sheridan. I mean, every bigger city and even really small ones like Rawlins has a center, you know? So you don't have to travel too far to get to one of our one stops.

Tressa

County.

Myra

That's really interesting, because I'm not trying to bring up the hurricane. But a lot of people, I'm seeing resources that I've not really ever thought people I knew needed. Or like I mentioned on the last one about 2-1-1, well, for this situation, my brother was displaced from his job because of the hurricane. I took the building out. It doesn't exist.

Amy Souza

Mm-hmm.

Myra

You know, so he's been able to sign up through some of the federal outlets, but there's nothing immediate, you know, like he's, there's nothing or the company's not paying him, you know, and I don't know how that's okay, but that's a different conversation. But, you know, but I'm seeing that, but some of the other things that I'm seeing that I didn't think about is those who are self-employed, who didn't own like a business storefront, you know, like on the

Amy Souza

you

Yeah.

Myra

You know what I'm saying? They worked out of their home and they made crafts or whatever and they lost power and they were displaced and the community doesn't exist so no one's buying their items. Would someone like that qualify where they're self-employed and then something like this happened to them? Because that's the number one thing I saw on social media from people that I know was how do they get help? They're asking for help and they were looking for services. So it's just top of mind.

Amy Souza

Yeah, absolutely. And I'm so sorry about your brother. That is so life altering. can't even imagine. So my thoughts and prayers will go out to your family. And with COVID too, we saw some of this. lot of where these small businesses, I COVID hit the middle class the most. A lot of these small business owners didn't have places to turn. And the answer is yes. If all of sudden,

Myra

What would that look like if someone's in that situation?

Yeah.

Amy Souza

you were a warehouse worker and the warehouse that you were working in is no longer standing because of a hurricane, you would be a dislocated worker. It's not like you're going to go back into that industry, right? So under the federal guidelines of WIOA, people like that would absolutely qualify for this dislocated worker program because it's actually under the natural disaster. There's a piece of that that goes into that as well.

Myra

Mm-hmm.

Amy Souza

COVID was another way that we could kind of use that. this would definitely, people that are displaced and can't go back to the things that they did before, there is federal money that can help you upskill. If you're like, I can't go back to that because all of a sudden we have to move to a whole different place that has a different economic buildup. There's different sectors that I'm not even used to, absolutely. There's funding that can help.

Myra

Thank you.

Mm-hmm.

Tressa

Yeah, that's good. I love the story you shared about our Halliburton guy. Yes, go Mr. Math teacher. But do you, I love hearing success stories. Do you have any others that you can share that made a significant change in an individual's life or even in a business that you might have worked with?

Myra

Yeah.

Amy Souza

Yeah.

Myra

Yeah. Yeah.

Amy Souza

my gosh. I could tell so many stories. Yeah. Let's see. I've worked with a lot of youth. Like I said, that was the majority. mean, until I got this position, I was the one that just worked with vulnerable youth. I've had students that are on house arrest, right? I had one really, really sassy student that was on house arrest. His parents had left.

Tressa

Okay, I love it, let's hear a few.

Myra

Yeah.

Amy Souza

I was kind of like an advocate for his education stuff because there was no one else to do it. I met him, he was on house arrest, had an ankle monitor. By the time that I was done working with him, he had gotten a job on like a hazelnut farm. He got his ankle bracelet off, he stopped causing trouble, was on a pathway to success and on track to graduate from high school, which was just a miracle in itself.

I've worked with a single mom of four boys who was a dedicated person that worked in the medical field. Because of certain situations that arose, she had to become the main caregiver and breadwinner for her four boys. And I met her right before she got into her RNA program, her nursing program. And last May, she graduated with honors and

and she got an amazing position as a nurse. I won't tell you the ones that make me cry, because there are some that make, because you run across some sad situations. I will say that, I will say I love seeing the boost in advocation for mental health in Wyoming. That has been, that's something I've noticed a great deal with, especially the youth that I work with.

Tressa

Yeah. Yeah.

Myra

Yeah.

Amy Souza

That's something that I hope that we just see the biggest boom in mental health support for these kiddos that are dealing with all of the things they're dealing with. I know Wyoming wants to do so much better. It's just so hard. It is so hard. And there's a very big population that need that support.

Tressa

Yeah, yeah, absolutely. Speaking of situations that make you sad, right, or have you make you have emotion around it, how do you handle that? I mean, the job that you're in is is an emotional position, right? You're dealing with people who are struggling and having times in their life that they're unsure, right? So how do you handle that? Not take that on or take that home?

Amy Souza

Mm.

It's really, really, really hard. You have to really train yourself, I think. And even now, there's certain ones that were success stories but make me sad. when I work with you especially, I used to actually schedule time in my week to just grieve the cases that I had to grieve. So.

And usually when you're dealing with vulnerable youth, Friday is not the day to do that because right before the weekend, the ones that are homeless or that need food or need something, that's when they come Friday afternoon. But like on a Tuesday or something, I might say, okay, I'm going to schedule 45 minutes this week because I just found out that one of my favorite participants had a hard time or I don't even know the right word to use anymore, but that may be...

Tressa

Yeah.

Amy Souza

took their own life, right? And that's a hard one, you have to grieve. Or you meet an eight-year-old who thinks that dumpster diving is digging for treasure. know, I mean, so I would schedule it into my day, so I'd always have time to grieve if I needed to. And I think that's really important. I think it's, if you're dealing with a hard population, and schedule time to grieve, and then there's sometimes you get really frustrated, because you're like, I want the best for you.

Tressa

Yeah. Yep.

Myra

Mm-hmm.

Amy Souza

so much I want and you're not wanting the best right now for you. And then also self-care counseling is a very, very big component when you're dealing with difficult populations because you can take that stuff on yourself. When you're dealing with 40 teenagers and 20 of them don't have good home lives, 10 of them have no home, you want to just take all of them with you.

Tressa

Hmm.

Myra

Mm-hmm.

Amy Souza

You're like, just I'll feed you, I'll take care of you. And it's really hard to balance and try to not let that guilt get inside of you. Or you don't want to get jaded either. So I always think counseling is wonderful when you're in a position to do vulnerable youth or vulnerable people in populations.

Tressa

Yeah.

Myra

Mm-hmm.

Tressa

Yeah, absolutely.

Yeah, I love that you talked about self-care. That's so important. It's important for anyone to make sure they do that. yeah, absolutely. So tell us a little bit of some of the biggest challenges that you're facing right now.

Amy Souza

Mm-hmm.

Absolutely.

Myra

Yeah.

Amy Souza

biggest challenges that we're facing.

There's a lot of people that need help right now. That is a challenge. Federal funding can only go so far. One of my biggest challenges in Rock Springs specifically, I have so many cases, and I only have so many case managers. Finding jobs, finding people, the right people for the right job is also a challenge sometimes. Like I said, during COVID,

Myra

Mm-hmm.

Amy Souza

It was so good. We were, I do want to say that during COVID, Wyoming was the only state that kept the doors open for the unemployment and for the offices. It's challenging because you become part of these people's everyday life, right? When people are filing for unemployment or needing help. But during COVID, what we did see was a lot of people had

a good amount of money coming in because we were able to take care of the needs of the population. But sometimes that dip when you haven't worked for two and a half, three years, that's a comp, that's hard, know, that's really hard. Another thing that we're seeing a lot of is people that retired who thought they were going to be okay are having to go back into the workforce. And that's a high number. And that one's challenging. have a work

Myra

Mm-hmm.

Amy Souza

shop coming up in my office it's called tips for older job seekers and it's just a way to help them kind of make sure that there's no there's nothing happening when they're applying for jobs right so that they have a good chance at getting one because those numbers are very high i think across the state across the nation with inflation and the way that things are people who thought they were going to be good to retire are finding out they can't they can't live off of it

Myra

Mm-hmm.

Tressa

Yeah, that's...

Myra

Yeah.

Tressa

That's really unfortunate.

Myra

Yeah, that's a reality that I don't think people think about if it's not in their sphere, it is. Kenya, I froze? Am I froze? Yeah. Yay. It's all the joys of technology and my internet. But yeah, I was just going to ask, do you find it challenging to find people jobs?

Tressa

Myra froze on us.

Amy Souza

Yes, she did.

Tressa

Here she is back.

Amy Souza

there she is.

Tressa

choice of technology.

Amy Souza

Mm-hmm.

Myra

where there are as many businesses in Wyoming and some of the workforce could be limited. Do you feel like people have to switch industries to find employment? I'm just curious where the population's smaller, workforces are smaller. I don't know how many marketing jobs there are in Wyoming. You know what I mean? And so I'm just curious if that is a challenge.

Amy Souza

Bye bye.

Mm-hmm.

Yeah.

Yeah. You know, Wyoming is so unique in that it's really driven by different sectors and different areas, right? So like in Sweetwater County, it's mining, gas and oil, and manufacturing, right? And I guess hospitality a little bit. But you have these little pockets. Jackson Hole is going to be way more about hospitality, right? Yeah, Evanston's going to be a little bit way more focused on manufacturing. So it's hard in the sense that

It's hard in the sense that when you're in Wyoming and let's say you're living in Sweetwater County, well, if you want to have a good paying job, we want to look at the most popular sectors. So it's not going to have the diverse workforce that a big city like Portland, Oregon would or anywhere else. But I will say, you know, if you can get into the right sector, you can make a decent living. So it can be challenging. It's really hard with youth.

Because what's the one thing we hear from youth when they live in Wyoming? I just want to get out of Wyoming. I just want to go do something where there's people. That can be kind of a challenge, you know? And there's lots of programs that are, know, Wyoming Grown is a program where they try and just, if you've moved away, you know, they reach out and say, hey, you went to school, you've got this degree, now come back, come home to Wyoming and let's grow this here.

Myra

Yeah.

Mm-hmm.

Amy Souza

There's a lot of good things happening with the Workforce Development Council trying to reach and figure out how do we break that from them wanting to leave or at least getting them back, know, so we can grow these different sectors. We found great ways to really appeal to the employers and the people seeking jobs. We just had a really wonderful job fair in the White Mountain Mall.

where we had I think 20 something employers show up. They did, I mean, probably a couple hundred on the spot interviews, gathered hundreds of resumes and we were able to really facilitate a place where they could come in and find some good workers. And they were really, really pleased with it. And those, our job fairs are getting bigger and bigger as we do them, so that's good. I really think it's about...

Tressa

Yeah, that's

Amy Souza

being an active part of the community and just helping that one person find that job. And having a place that our whole job is to make sure that that employer finds a good employee.

Myra

Yeah.

Mm-hmm.

Tressa

Yeah, one person at a time, one step at a time, right? Yeah. Well, we're getting to the end of our time together today, Amy. Is there anything that we haven't talked about that you really want to make sure is part of the message that we get out to the public?

Myra

Yep.

Amy Souza

You know, I think the biggest message is just know that if you're struggling in Wyoming, there is a workforce center that you can go to that if you can't find answers there, they're going to help you find answers. I don't think that there's any reason that someone in rural Wyoming should be left out and not realize that there's places to go to get help. If you want to work, I promise workforce services will help you find a job. You know, and if you need help.

with complicated unemployment stuff. If you need support because you're a single mom and all of sudden you're taking care of your kids. If you just got out of a bad situation and you're trying to change the direction in your life, these are all things that we do every single day. So I would say anybody in Wyoming, do not forget that there are so many resources. And we are a free place to come in. Every one stop, American Job Center is free.

Tressa

Yeah.

That's wonderful. Yeah, we'll get your website and any information and make sure it's in the show notes as well so they'll have access to that.

Amy Souza

Mm-hmm.

Myra

Yeah.

Yeah. Well, before we go, Amy, we just want to ask how do you stay authentic?

Amy Souza

Well, how do I say, that's one of my highest values is authenticity. How do I say, I just remind myself who I am, that I am amazing and charming and wonderful. I have great glasses and a big personality and I just have to, stay true to it and remind myself, you know, this is what God may do and it's fantastic.

Myra

Thanks.

Yes.

Tressa ( )

I love that. And I do love your glasses.

Myra

I love it. Yeah. Yep.

Amy Souza

I might, I might let you know. I might hit you up.

Tressa

Okay, she might give us the secret where she got those.

Myra