The Community College Role in Economic Development

H. Martin Lancaster, President
North Carolina Community College System

Sampson Community College, Clinton, NC

February 13, 2002

Thank you for this opportunity to talk with you tonight. Dr. Aiken asked me to focus my remarks on the community college role in economic development, and that is very pertinent because our state is facing one of the most challenging economic times in its history.

At the close of 1999, North Carolina enjoyed the 12^th lowest unemployment rate in the nation. At the close of last year, we had the fifth highest unemployment rate of any state in the nation. In 2001, North Carolina had 63,222 announced layoffs, more than twice the layoffs of the previous year. Just last month we paid out $135 million in unemployment claims, by far a record for any month

These numbers come as no surprise to you here in Sampson County, because you and other rural economies are facing the brunt of these challenges, due to the double blow of the recession, plus the economic restructuring that has led to significant losses in traditional manufacturing jobs. Over the past year, Sampson County’s unemployment rate grew from 3.7% to 7.7%, almost a point and a half higher than the statewide average. You faced over 300 layoffs last year with the closing of Alamac Knits and Sanmina.

Statewide we lost over 50,000 jobs in manufacturing last year, almost a third of the 155,000 manufacturing job losses we have seen since 1990. Of those 155,000 losses, nearly 100,000 have been in textiles and a majority of the layoffs have been in rural counties like Sampson.

These job losses and the resulting retraining requirements are the reasons why in just this year, enrollments in our curriculum programs have grown 10% and workforce continuing education programs have grown approximately 19%. And like all the citizens of our State, we have to do more with less, addressing this growth with 4% budget reversions.

It is very important that you are focusing your attention on economic development. And it is very fair that you are asking what is the role of the Community College System and your community college in economic development, and what are we doing to address the economic issues faced in Sampson and 99 other counties across the state.

Frequently, I am asked to talk about our role in economic and workforce development. When I am asked which of our 59 institutions across the state are involved in economic and workforce development, I answer "all of them." When I am asked what portion of our budget is devoted to workforce and economic development, I say "All of it." When I am asked to define which aspects of our programs deal with workforce preparation, I say, "All of them."

Because our System was created almost 40 years ago with a mission to support economic and workforce development, an outgrowth of the former statewide system of Industrial Education Centers, we are unique across the nation in our support of economic and workforce development. Today we sponsor the most comprehensive system of workforce development and lifelong learning in the nation.

One out of every six North Carolina citizens participates in one of our education or training programs each year.
We produce the fifth highest number of technical and vocational graduates in the nation.
We have the fifth largest basic skills/literacy program in the nation.
Our customized industry training programs have received the highest average annual ranking of any state by Expansion Management magazine.
We sponsor the largest State-sponsored small business assistance programs in the nation
And we support one of the extensive workforce continuing education programs in the world.

With all of these resources and acclaim, the greatest danger our state faces in the economic and workforce development realm is complacency, as states around the nation have learned the secret of our success and have made significant investments in their training systems. Consequently, in the past two years, we have taken on several new initiatives to enhance our support of economic and workforce development. These include:

The Higher Education Bonds, the largest in U.S. history, which will pump $600 million into community colleges for new training facilities and needed repairs and renovations.
The creation of the Virtual Learning Community through a statewide development initiative, providing approximately 100 courses on-line, including full degrees such as our Information Systems program.
We created unique partnerships with the North Carolina information technology and biotechnology industries to position us for the future with cutting edge programs. Just a few weeks ago, our new biotech-training program was profiled in the San Francisco Chronicle, prompting calls from around the nation.
To support the higher skills required by our manufacturers, we initiated the North Carolina Manufacturing Certification Program, a program that has received the recommendation of the National Association of Manufacturers and NCCBI, and trained 500 people through 14 community colleges in its first year.
We received authority through the General Assembly this year to provide new services to support economic development including small business incubators, product testing, and teleconferencing services to business and industry.
In addition, we received authority to pilot utilization of scholarship funds to attract students to high demand/low enrollment programs like the trades, as well as received the authorization to provide free computer literacy and other employability skills training to dislocated workers and unemployed individuals.
We have also developed new capabilities and programs to support Safety training for companies, economic literacy, minority business development, electronic commerce, exporting, and job analysis.

The message that we want you to hear is that we are being proactive, not reactive, to the issues our state faces.

And our community colleges are having positive impact – impact on counties, impact on industries and small businesses, and impact on individual lives. Let me tell you a few stories from the past year from each of these perspectives.

First about a county. Martin County is a small rural county in Northeastern North Carolina. A tier 1 county ranking 72nd in size with 25,000 people. In the past five years, ten manufacturing companies in the county shut down, accounting for 1600 jobs and total tobacco allotments in the county declined by over 50%. In 2000, they had 11% unemployment and 27% of the residents out commuted to jobs in other counties.

But then things started to change, not because of coincidence but because of commitment. They forged a teamwork effort built around the local county commissioners, the Economic Development Commission, and Martin Community College. They became aggressive in their approach to economic development, and they sponsored a county wide Education Summit that was widely attended to raise awareness of the realities they faced. Their efforts produced attention. A company, Penco, indicated they were interested in locating a 300-person locker fabrication company to Williamston. However, because of the strength of the training programs, they indicated that Georgia might be their first choice. In one evening, leaders of the county, the college, and our System office made a presentation and sketched out a training program that was the deciding factor in locating 300 new jobs to Martin County.

The Martin County economic developer, Stan Crowe, recently stated, "There is no doubt in my mind that Penco Products would be in Georgia today if North Carolina did not have the New and Expanding Industry Training program. It was great seeing our community college team at work; they carried the day for Martin County and North Carolina."

In just the past year, Martin Community College training helped attract a textile manufacturer to take over a closing mill saving 190 jobs, and attracted two additional manufacturers to the county. Bottom line, the county in just one-year has attracted 1,100 jobs bringing the unemployment rate from 11% to 7%, the largest turnaround in Northeastern North Carolina. Local economic development officials indicate that the community college training initiatives were instrumental in all four economic development decisions, and the deciding factor in two. That’s community colleges at work.

Another example from an industry perspective. Pilkington Glass is a Laurinburg manufacturing company that looked to Richmond Community College to assist with a comprehensive maintenance-training program, coinciding with the company’s 12-week shutdown as they made significant investments to rebuild ½ of the plant. Using resources from the Focused Industrial Training Program, staff from Richmond Community College, working with the local company staff, developed specialized training simulators and provided nine weeks of customized instruction to the Pilkington employees. One community college instructor, James Medlin, put in over 600 hours into the project, often logging in seven hours of work with the Pilkington training project, before holding two hours of office hours in the afternoon, and providing 4 hours of instruction for his curriculum program at night.

Last year I received a letter from David Robinson, the plant manager at Pilkington who said that the community college employees "redefined ‘dedication’ and gave an unyielding 110% support . . . I know of no other Pilkington facility in all of North Carolina that has received this level of support from any institution of higher education." That’s community colleges at work.

While we’re on this theme, how about a small business example. Hilda Coston opened Hilda’s Cooking and Catering in nearby Onslow County in 1998 as a catering business for small family gatherings. Shortly after starting the business, she ran into unexpected issues related to construction costs. She needed additional financing which required a business plan and the place she went for help was our Small Business Center at Coastal Community College. Today, Ms. Hilda’s business can serve catering to groups of up to 1,500 people; she employs 25 employees, and recently completed construction of a banquet room seating 65 people. In recognition, she received the Onslow County Small Business Person of the Year Award. Again, that’s community colleges at work.

Finally, where we clearly have the greatest impact, an individual example. Crystal Talmadge was a teenage mother, already the parent of five children when she visited the JobLink Career Center at Pitt Community College, looking for some opportunity in her life. With assistance from the Workforce Investment Act, and by working two jobs while also caring for her five children, Crystal attended Pitt Community College. During her time at Pitt, she even faced the challenge of relocating her family as a result of Hurricane Floyd. In May of 2000, Crystal received her Associate Degree in Business Administration from Pitt Community College graduating in the top ten percent of her class. She currently works two jobs, one as a Business manager and the other as a billing clerk, while enrolled in a dual Business Administration/Accounting program at North Carolina Wesleyan College. The young mother of five, who could so easily have ended up on our welfare roles without the support of the community college, now is a board member and volunteer for local homeless shelters in Greenville, and last year received the Governor’s Award for Excellence in Workforce Development. That’s community colleges at work.

These examples that I have given you from the past year occur every day at our community colleges, and they are occurring right here at Sampson Community College. Bottom line, if you want to know what are community colleges doing for economic development, I say to you every thing we do is in support of economic development by supporting the prosperity of our communities, our companies, and our citizens.

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