Mississippians build things, according to James Williams, director of the State Workforce Investment Board. His board, which works in the Office of the Governor, is providing funds to train state students how to make machines work.
Williams brought a big check to Pearl River Community College’s Forrest County Center in Hattiesburg last Thursday for $247,266. The money, made available through the State of Mississippi and the Mississippi Works fund, will buy equipment for advanced manufacturing training programs at the center.
Surrounded by local and state officials, Williams said he was “excited about the opportunity to assist in the growth and continued development of PRCC’s programs as well as Greater Hattiesburg.”
“We looked at sections of the state and said, ‘What are the key industry drivers for that community so that we can help them have a viable community?’” he said. “So, it was called a section plan or sector strategies, and manufacturing was the top sector in the State of Mississippi. We build things.”
Williams said the number of middle-skill jobs – those that have more than high school training, but less than a four-year degree – are increasing.
“Of the low-skill jobs, half of them in the next 15-20 years will all be automated,” he said. “Sixty-five percent of the jobs that are growing and hiring are middle-skill jobs. … So, to have a healthy economy, you have to have a career technical program that leads to these jobs.”
PRCC taken the initiative, Williams said. The funds will enhance the two-year Industrial Electronics Technology program curriculum to help provide a qualified workforce to employers in the Pine Belt.
“When (automated manufacturing companies) come into your area looking to locate,” Williams said, “they are going to look at that program and say, ‘You have a program that will train people to fix and operate advanced manufacturing equipment.’ The existing industry that you have here is putting in more and more automated equipment, more motion-control devices and more robots. So, you have to have a program like this. Pearl River Community College has stepped up and said, ‘Send them here. We’ll do it.’”
PRCC President Dr. Adam Breerwood said an industrial maintenance program is an important component to workforce development.
“What it will do is provide our students an opportunity to work in all types of manufacturing and keep up with the machines,” he said. “That’s the big push right now. A lot of industry needs people who can operate and keep maintenance on these machines. That’s exactly what this program will do.”
The program will allow people to work on a variety of different needs in industry, Breerwood said.
“We have a core credit, where it can be students, or it can just be someone who needs to upgrade their training,” he said. “They would come in and take one of our short-term programs for increased training, so they can get right back to work.”
Breerwood said he hopes to expand the funds to connect with other programs.
“The money is for specific equipment that was based on the industry needs for training,” he said. “I’m hoping to use this investment as seed money that can eventually lead to increase in other programs, that can lead to an increase in facilities.”
Funding for the grant was came through the Greater Hattiesburg Workforce Needs Proposal, which was developed in conjunction with PRCC, the Area Development Partnership and 16 local industrial employers. PRCC was able to submit the proposal, complete with industry survey data, new curriculum and equipment needs.
The Industrial Electronics Technology program at PRCC’s Forrest County Center is already being taught with the updated curriculum as outlined in the Greater Hattiesburg Workforce Needs Proposal. This curriculum was built around the needs of advanced manufacturing facilities in the Greater Hattiesburg region and has been approved by the Mississippi Community College Board and accredited by the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools.
The Lamar County Board of Supervisors were briefed about the grant in December. County Administrator Joseph “Jody” Waits said in February – Career and Technical Education Month – that workforce training is “critical.”
“Pearl River Community College has really stepped up,” he said at the time. Dr. Adam Breerwood has risen to the task. About this time last year, there was some discussion about it, tours taken of a facility in the northeastern part of the state and some of it was taken to heart.”
Jennie Noonkester, Hattiesburg High School CTE Student Services director, said PRCC has stepped up in another area by providing scholarships to deserving students. Students with a 3.0 grade point average can earn half of their tuition at Pearl River Community College, she said; a 3.5 GPA earns a full tuition.
Noonkester said workforce training now reaches into the ninth grade, where students have declared an “endorsement” – a curriculum of studies designed toward a graduation goal.
“One of them is a Career and Technical Education endorsement and they can have an academic endorsement,” she said. “We are toward WorkKeys readiness, which is an ACT curriculum. They can take a test and get their WorkKeys endorsement, which shows that they are college and career ready. A lot of industries recognize that certification. So that’s something statewide that they are working toward.”
Tina Byrd, director of the Lamar County Center for Technical Education, said investing in a skilled workforce is critical for economic development in the state.
“Mississippi needs more big companies, and we have room,” she said. “But they are not going to come here unless we have the workforce educated to fill positions. That’s what we are trying to work on.”
Byrd said one problem among students is in their perception.
“A lot of our students are from rural areas, so they are only familiar with their own little worlds,” she said. “We try to show them videos and career pathways. If you want to see what CTE offers in high school, there’s a lot more than we have here.”
