Over the course of working with area healthcare employers and launching the Southwestern Oregon Healthcare Industry Partnership (SOHIP), one of the first action items identified was to help develop a program that could offer certification to uncredentialed Medical Assistants. The problem was articulated by the Office of Rural Health in their summary of findings from their 2016 Listening Tour. SOWIB partnered with the National Healthcareer Association to become the registered proctor site and developed a test prep course designed to help working MAs sit for and pass the Certified Clinical Medical Assistant (CCMA) exam. SOWIB got the project started by sponsoring the costs of participation in

In January 2017, the Southwestern Oregon Workforce Investment Board launched its first Girls Who Code (GWC) clubs in the Coos Bay/North Bend area. In case you haven’t heard of GWC, Girls Who Code is a national non-profit organization whose mission is to alleviate the massive gender gap in the computer science industry by providing 6th to 12th grade girls with opportunities to engage in computer science. One of the ways that GWC does this is through the creation of GWC clubs. GWC clubs are a fun, safe and friendly environment for teen girls to immerse themselves in computer science applications. Each group is led through the computer science curriculum by a group facilitator, who helps partic