Chinle job expo connects Navajo youth with employers and training programs

More than 120 people filled the Chinle High School gymnasium on June 16 for the Navajo Division for Children and Family Services’ first Job and Training Expo, a one-day effort built around a simple test for Apache County: could a school gym become a real workforce pipeline for young adults, job seekers and families who often have to build opportunity close to home? The event ran from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. under the theme “Building Pathways to Opportunity.”

The expo was designed around practical matching, not just encouragement. Presentations came from the Office of Navajo Nation Scholarship and Financial Assistance, Navajo Nation Staff Development and Training, the Peacemaking Program, the Navajo Department of Workforce Development and the Office of Background Investigations, giving attendees a direct look at education, training and public-service career routes. Registration materials asked about education level, veteran status, employment interests, reservation residency and accommodation needs, while also sorting people into specific pathways such as first-time applying, full-time work, part-time work, work experience, apprenticeship, internship, self-employment, job search and volunteer work.

President Buu Nygren and professional bull rider Cody Jesus were the featured speakers. Jesus, who started rodeo at 14, told the crowd that there was “nothing” that was ever going to stop him, tying success to discipline and choices rather than luck. Nygren urged attendees to keep a positive attitude, stay ready and not give up when opportunity seems distant.

Thomas Cody, the executive director of NDCFS, said the goal was to help young adults think about where they want to be in five and 10 years and to help them become employed by connecting them with jobs and training. That message landed in Chinle, where access matters as much as ambition. Apache County covers 11,198.3 square miles, has a population of 66,021, a median household income of $35,903 and an employment rate of 37.8%, according to Census data cited in the county profile. Only 19.1% of residents age 25 and older hold a bachelor’s degree or higher.

Chinle itself is small, with about 4,147 residents in the Chinle CDP and 19,429 in the Chinle CCD, which helps explain why bringing workforce staff into the school gym can make a difference for people who may live far from larger labor markets. The Navajo Department of Workforce Development says it is the largest Native American grantee of Workforce Innovation and Opportunity Act funding in the United States and serves the entire Navajo Nation, making the expo part of a much larger workforce system. The question now is how many of the people who walked into Chinle High School will move from interest to training, credentials and jobs.