WorkForce Inc.

Williams Helps People Find Jobs

During her 14 years as executive director of WorkForce Inc. in West Memphis, Sharon Williams has started programs that have spread throughout the state and received national awards.

Williams directs the planning, development and implementation of the office which serves a five-county area of eastern Arkansas. WorkForce provides employment and training services to disadvantaged or dislocated workers and implements a welfare-to-work program for about 2,400 people in the area each year. The agency has annual revenue of about $3.5 million.

Williams worked in state government for 11 years before leaving to form the WorkForce agency in West Memphis in 1984. She commutes between Little Rock and West Memphis daily.

“I often felt working at the state level was frustrating,” she says. “I wanted to be closer to the people receiving the services.”

She developed a program that provides Internet access to more than 30 community service agencies and lists job openings by area businesses. The program was implemented by the state’s other nine WorkForce agencies last year.

She also developed a program called Career Closets, a volunteer program to provide career clothing for welfare recipients making the transition from welfare to work. The program received a $27,000 grant in November to expand the service to the other agencies in the state.

The WorkForce agency in West Memphis has ranked among the top 10 percent of such agencies in the nation based on the number of people helped by the agency who find jobs. The agency’s success rate exceeds 75 percent in all categories.

“We’ve had to be innovative because of the area of the state that we serve,” she says.

Eastern Arkansas has one of the highest unemployment rates and most welfare recipients of any area of the state.

Williams also serves on several state and national boards. She is chairwoman of the state Transitional Employment Assistance Advisory Council, a member of the board of directors of the Communities in Schools program and a member of the national Enterprise Council organization.

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