Community colleges are helping revive rural economies by working with employers to provide job training, writes Community College Times.
Rural areas try to recruit new businesses looking for lower costs, but employers also look at the availability of qualified workers, access to workforce development programs and the quality of life, said Randy Smith, executive director of the Rural Community College Alliance, which is affiliated with the American Association of Community Colleges. “Community colleges are absolutely critical to economic development in rural areas,” Smith said.
In a rural area, the community college is much more than a center for education and training, Smith added. It also contributes to the quality of life by serving as “hubs for the arts, humanities and athletics,” he said.
In West Virginia, New River Community and Technical College (NRCTC) uses its Education and Technical Training Center to train students in the installation, maintenance, inspection, and removal of electric transmission and communication lines. Appalachian Electric Power (AEP), Frontier Communications, MASTEC, Suddenlink and Pike Electric provided equipment and expertise.
The program started in January with 16 students, including an 18-year-old high school graduate, a man with a degree in electronic engineering who was laid off from his job at an electronics factory, and a woman who was working two jobs and still struggling to make ends meet. A line service mechanic with 900 hours of training can earn $75,000 to $100,000 a year, according to Spring.
NRCTC is also using its new training center for programs in weatherization and energy analysis and a welding program in cooperation with Phillips Machine Service, a mining equipment company.
When the Greenbrier, a luxury resort nearby, opened a casino, NRCTC began training dealers for blackjack, roulette, craps and three-card poker.
As factories closed in Iowa, enrollment soared at Northeast Iowa Community College (NICC). Now jobs are coming back to the area — a new information technology calling center has created 1,300 jobs — but workers need more technical skills, said Penelope Wills, the college president.
. . . the college is adapting by creating new programs such as a training program for computerized numerical control machinist technicians. Twelve local employers joined together to help write the curriculum, which qualifies students for jobs in advanced manufacturing, Wills said.
An underground natural gas training program at NICC was developed in partnership with Black Hills Energy and Alliant Energy. About 65 percent of the employees in that industry are eligible to retire within five years, and “they needed us to develop that program,” Wills said.
This fall, NICC started a wind turbine program with 10 companies serving on a college advisory board.
Mississippi no longer tries to draw new companies with low labor costs, said Phil Sutphin, president of East Central Community College (ECCC) in Decatur. The goal now is to draw higher-paying jobs.
ECCC provides customized training in partnership with local companies and works closely with economic developers. “When a prospect comes to the area, we are at the table,” Sutphin said.
If KiOR Co., which converts biomaterials like scrub pine into gasoline, locates in the area, ECCC will create a biofuels training program.
With a federal WIRED (Workforce Innovation in Regional Economic Development) grant, the college has developed an M3 (modern multi-skill manufacturing) certificate program. The Walmart Foundation is funding a free evening class for dislocated or unemployed workers and out-of-school youths.
ECCC also is a social and cultural hub for its community.
“In rural areas, the community college is the only game in town,” Sutphin said.
Local residents come to the college for football games, the marching band, jazz band and its show and gospel choirs. The college cafeteria is also a popular spot for dining.
“The whole community comes to the cafeteria for the best Sunday dinner in town,” said Sutphin. A meal of fried chicken, rice and gravy, fried okra, salad and dessert costs $5.75.
