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Bobby Merritt: In Lenoir County in the recent years, well going
back several years, we were mostly a textile and tobacco town. The
unemployment has caused a rise in enrollment at the community
college level, so through the community college system, we have a
program that's called Customized Training Program so when a new
company locates here or an existing company is going to do an
addition, we can come in and help support their training programs.
Well in the last five or six years we've really had a good growth
of companies coming into town. So we're very lucky to have a place
like this that will allow us to come in and transform a classroom
into a more like a simulated room that the'll see actually on a
manufacturing floor.
Charles ***: I heard about these classes here from a co-worker,
a good friend of mine, and so I took the opportunity and jumped on
it. It doesn't matter what age you are, it gives you an
opportunity to step into a new industry and give you a different
idea of what's out there and make you more valuable in the
workforce.
Bobby: We have people coming to go to a 13-week class, it meets three
nights a week or it meets three days a week in the mornings, so we
can either get a displaced worker or we can get somebody that's
currently but wants a better job.
Charles: Oh yes, I'm working full-time and going to school. It's a
lot of fun.
Bobby: There's 58 community colleges in North Carolina, and
supposedly there's one for — every thirty miles you drive, you'll
run into a community college. So there is a big opportunity. It's
affordable training and we have a work force that's ready to get
back to work. It's a game-changer for eastern North Carolina to
get companies to come in, and so we're doing something right and
it has a lot to do with our customized training program and what
the community college system brings to the table as far as
training.
Charles: The relationship that the school has with the community,
it's teaching people new skills and they're getting hired right
out of the class. So the program is working. Probably not as fast
as the community wants, but it is working.