Guiding policies for a 21^st century workforce

Workforce Development

Workforce development is one of the building blocks of rural economic prosperity. The center defines workforce development broadly, encompassing child care, transportation and health insurance -- all critical to working families -- as well as education from the earliest years on through adult technical training, entrepreneurship skills building and career guidance.

The center is currently leading the Community Mobilization Project, which seeks to accelerate the return of dislocated workers to gainful employment. The project builds on lessons learned in the earlier Dislocated Worker Initiative.

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Current Initiative: Rural Community Mobilization Project

The Rural Community Mobilization Project is a multisite effort to help laid-off workers return to gainful employment. It provides grants, training and technical assistance to local organizations that fill gaps in services available to jobless workers.

The project is distinctive in its approach in two ways:

• It puts control of community efforts in the hand of local leaders, who know the challenges and the resources in their own communities. This allows them to recognize and fill gaps in services.
• It fosters direct connections between businesses and job creation efforts on the one hand and workforce development on the other. The goal is to increase the likelihood that training or other services will lead directly to new employment.

Some project teams, for example, are training people in fields with high demand, such as health care, education and green building trades. Others are providing paid internships, holding job expos or offering support services for the unemployed. Project teams vary by location but generally represent human service organizations, community colleges, economic development agencies and workforce development agencies.

The project, launched in fall 2009, responds to the high unemployment level in many rural counties. In September 2009, for example, two dozen rural counties had a jobless rate of 12 percent or higher. The Rural Center initiated the project with the help of federal stimulus funds provided through the N.C. Department of Commerce.

Participating sites were selected through a competitive grant process. Applications were accepted for problem-solving projects and for large-scale service delivery projects. Eleven projects were funded from a field of 27 applications.

Grants were awarded to:

Center for Community Action, $80,000 to help 150 laid-off, unemployed or underemployed women enter or advance careers in health care or education in Robeson County.

Cleveland Community College, $67,000 to train dislocated workers and unemployed individuals in customer-service and job-readiness skills for such fields as health care and hospitality. The grant also will provide 20 paid internships for eligible participants.

Franklin-Vance-Warren Opportunity, $60,000 to provide dislocated workers with child care, transportation and case management to support training and work search activities.

Graham County, $18,000 to provide 30 unemployed or underemployed construction workers with training in business planning, basic computer skills, green building techniques and government contracting.

Halifax County SHARE Network Initiative, $42,500 to establish two new locations with access to the state’s JobLink system. JobLink provides career planning, training and placement services. Access points will be set up in Scotland Neck through the Regeneration Development Group and Hollister through the Haliwa-Saponi Indian Tribe. The sites serve Halifax and Warren counties.

Haywood Community College, $82,900 to provide 190 dislocated workers, students and others with green industry training, paid internships and entrepreneurial training. The college will collaborate with the Western North Carolina Green Building Council and Mountain Projects Inc. The project will place at least 40 trainees in internships.

Laurinburg/Scotland County Area Chamber of Commerce, $35,000 to fund a part-time workforce development director, create a directory of Scotland County community resources and hold an expo on local employment opportunities and community resources.

Opportunities Industrialization Center of Wilson, $90,000 to implement JobsNOWPLUS to increase the overall level of employment, training and support services for 150 dislocated, unemployed and underemployed workers enrolled in JobsNOW. JobsNOW is state initiative focusing on careers that require six months or less of training.

Pitt Community College, $68,000 to provide emergency medical training to dislocated workers and underemployed individuals. The project will reduce the training time from 18 months to six months and will train 40 workers in Pitt County, which is experiencing a severe shortage of paramedics.

Southeastern Community College, $41,600 to assist laid-off workers in Columbus County through a combination of short-term skills training, on-the-job training in small businesses, career readiness certification and addressing gaps in services.

Tyrrell County Community Development Corporation, $15,000 to identify and bring together local workforce, community development and human service organizations, along with laid-off workers, to create a plan to address the needs of those workers in Tyrrell and Washington counties.

Contact

This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it Senior Director, Workforce Development Office

N.C. Rural Economic Development Center

4021 Carya Drive

Raleigh, NC 27610

Telephone: 919-250-4314

Fax: 919-250-4325