Members of the Central Peninsula Young Professionals received insight on how to build their businesses during a meeting at the Kenai Chamber of Commerce and Visitor Center on Tuesday.

Spearheaded by both the Soldotna Chamber of Commerce and the Kenai Chamber of Commerce and Visitor Center, the group aims to strengthen the professional community of the greater Kenai and Soldotna areas by connecting entrepreneurs aged 21 to 39 with the resources they need to build and grow their enterprises.

Sara Bieber, the Gulf Coast manager of the Alaska Department of Labor and Workforce Development, spoke to the group about the local professional development services offered by Peninsula Job Center.

“One of our theories at the Job Center is that if you’re interested in the position you’re applying for, or interested in the occupation you’re seeking training for, you’re going to be happier in that occupation and you’re more likely to succeed,” Bieber said.

The center offers technical tutorials, skill assessments, mock interviews and aptitude testing, among other services, she said.

But scholarships, Bieber said, are some of the best resources the center offers.

“We have free money,” she said. “We have funds available. That is one of our best kept secrets that we do not try to keep a secret.”

Scholarships can be awarded for people to advance their education or technical training in high-growth occupational fields, Bieber said.

“We don’t tell you what you want to be when you grow up,” she said. “We can point you in the right direction and have you put together a plan based on what you want.”

The COVID-19 pandemic has changed operations at the Job Center, Bieber said, and forced the programming to provide services in person and virtually.

She said the center had to shut down in the spring and summer of 2020, and that some people are coming back in person now, but not quite back up to pre-pandemic levels.

“Recently, we have definitely seen an uptick in folks, but we did move a lot of our service-based model to virtual wherever we could,” Bieber said.

One of the main areas the center has helped its customers with during the past two years was applying for unemployment insurance, she said.

Bieber said in a community that lacks resources to help job seekers connect with occupations and employers, the need is increasingly important.

“We are here, we are open, we want to help,” she said.

For more information visit the Alaska Job Center Network at 11312 Kenai Spur Highway or visit jobs.alaska.gov.

Reach reporter Camille Botello at camille.botello@peninsulaclarion.com.