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| For Release: IMMEDIATE | Contact: Public Affairs |
| Date: December 18, 2000 |
Governor’s Work First Award for Edgecombe Community College
RALEIGH – Edgecombe Community College has received the Outstanding Partnership Award, one of the Governor's Work First Business Council Awards. The awards honor those agencies, businesses, and individuals serving as leaders in the training and hiring of Work First participants. The awards were announced at the Work First Business Council meeting, held on Monday, December 11 at the Sheraton Imperial in Research Triangle Park.
Honorees were recognized as "Outstanding" by the Business Council in seven categories: Business, Business Leader of the Year, Faith Based Partnership, Human Resources Volunteer Group, Chamber of Commerce/Chamber Representative, Innovative Solutions and Partnership.
Edgecombe Community College was honored in the Outstanding Partnership Award category for its Coalition of Support and Training (CST). The program provided clients with an opportunity for higher-level employment and helped local industries find and train a pool of qualified applicants.
ECC partnered with Honda parts manufacturer Keihin Carolina Systems Technology (KCST) and several agencies in the county to build the coalition. The Human Resources Development Division and Workforce Development and Training Center at ECC provided transportation, basic skills training, and on-the-job training to clients eight hours a day for ten weeks.
Clients have completed two sessions. Out of the first group of participants, 15 of the 18 students who completed the training program were employed and still have jobs with KCST or other industries in the area. The second group was equally successful. Eleven completed the program and were hired by KCST. After five months, all of the students placed are still on the job.
The contact with the clients has continued after program completion. Plans are now underway to help students continue their education and KCST will help with the process. "We will begin with a certificate program and then move them on to an associate degree," said ECC Associate Vice President of Administration-Curriculum Kathy Munday.
"Based on the success of this program, we plan to replicate this process with other industries," said ECC President Hartwell Fuller.
"This program illustrates the critical role our community colleges play in building better futures and strengthening the economy," said North Carolina Community College System President H. Martin Lancaster.
Gov. Jim Hunt launched the Work First program in 1995 to assist people in moving from welfare to work. When it was launched, there were 87,850 adults listed on welfare in North Carolina. When the Work First Business Council was appointed in April 1998, there were 48,408 adults on welfare. As of December 2000, that number was reduced to 22,774.
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