-Press Release from Betty Gray

Beaufort County Community College has been awarded a $120,000 North Carolina Back-to-Work grant that will fund a new worker training program beginning in January at the college.

The grant is a result of a partnership between the N.C. Community College System and the N.C. Department of Commerce funded by appropriations from the N.C. General Assembly. It provides funds for a Certified Production Technician Program at BCCC that will qualify those who complete it for entry-level jobs in area industries.

“Beaufort County Community College is excited to have been awarded this N.C. Back-to-Work grant,” said BCCC President Barbara Tansey. “The Certified Production Technician credential will give unemployed and underemployed workers in our four-county service area skills they need to find a job or qualify for a better job.”

“This is just the latest example of how BCCC strives to be an active partner in the economic development of the region,” she said.

The Certified Production Technician coursework involves training recognized by the Manufacturing Skill Standards Council in four critical production areas – Safety, Quality and Continuous Improvement, Manufacturing Processes and Production and Maintenance Awareness.

Students will also earn a Career Readiness Certification, a nationally-recognized credential that verifies to an employer their skills in the areas of Reading for Information, Applied Math and Locating Information.

BCCC will offer the Certified Production Technician coursework for an initial group of 100 individuals throughout the service area, according to Lou Stout, director of Occupational Extension at BCCC and the program’s supervisor.

This training will “provide a key platform for unemployed, underemployed, active-duty military and veterans to master the skills needed for front-line production work,” she said.

It will be offered free of charge to unemployed and underemployed workers who qualify.

The new training will not only benefit the region’s work force, it will help those industries that employ production workers, Stout said.

Of the 25 largest employers in BCCC’s service area of Beaufort, Hyde, Tyrrell and Washington counties, 20 percent are manufacturers who will benefit directly from the Certified Production Technician Program.

“Each of the region’s 91 manufacturers has the potential to benefit from the program as there will be better qualified individuals applying for positions who come with an industry-recognized credential,” she said.

BCCC will hold informational fairs in each of the counties in its service area to provide more information about the program in the coming weeks.

For more information, interested persons may contact Stout by telephone at 252-940-6307 or by email at lous@beaufortccc.edu.