Eastern Carolina Workforce Development Board and NCWorks offers job seekers enhanced training services to improve their skills and propel their employability while providing a pathway to a high-demand career. The training services are offered to qualified individuals who are unemployed, underemployed, individuals that have been laid off due to no fault of their own, low-income, and youth just entering the workforce.
The training options are varied and are approved by the Eastern Carolina Workforce Development Board and funded through the Workforce Innovation and Opportunity Act (WIOA) Title I. These options can be completed in two years or less and will lead to employment in high-growth career opportunities within eastern North Carolina. Once training is completed, NCWorks Career Advisors are available to help match trained job seekers to employers who have a requirement to grow their workforce and become more competitive in today’s market.
“Workforce development aligning job seekers to employers’ needs has been our ongoing mission. Being able to offer funded training programs through the WIOA for qualified job seekers will infuse the pipeline helping our region’s businesses to achieve their growth objectives,” states Tammy Childers, Executive Director, Eastern Carolina Workforce Development Board. “Our success with our training programs is as varied as our region’s businesses, in the past year we have helped hundreds of job seekers secure a sustainable career,” concludes Ms. Childers.
Success Stories
Elijah, from Kinston, worked with the NextGen Youth Career Advisor at NCWorks and was able to successfully complete his training and obtain his CDL. Elijah found employment and is now working at Smithfield Hog Production as a truck driver. “I am so grateful for all the help I have received,” Elijah said. “Through the WIOA, I was able to reach my goal and my dream job as a trucker.”
Cheryle worked for 10 years at a company before they were forced into massive layoffs. Cheryle then discovered the WIOA and the Trade Adjustment Act (TAA) through NCWorks and found out that these programs would provide funds and resources that allowed her to go to school and earn certificates in both Office Administration and Microsoft Applications Proficiency. Cheryle is now working at Wayne Community College in two part-time positions, one as a professional tutor and the other as a health screening technician. Cheryle comments, “I will forever be grateful for the TAA and the WIOA programs. If not for these programs and NCWorks Career Advisors, I never would have gone back to college. They believed in me, allowing me to believe in myself.”
About Workforce Innovation and Opportunity Act (WIOA)
WIOA stands for the Workforce Innovation and Opportunity Act which is designed to help job seekers access employment, education, training, and support services to succeed in the labor market. WIOA training funds are designed to serve dislocated workers, underemployed adults and youth providing training to enter or re-enter the labor market.
The WIOA is landmark legislation, signed into law in 2014, that is designed to strengthen and improve our nation’s public workforce system and help get Americans, including youth and those with significant barriers to employment, into high-quality jobs and careers and help employers hire and retain skilled workers.
WIOA requires states to strategically align their core workforce development programs to coordinate the needs of both job seekers and employers through combined four-year state plans with greater flexibility than its predecessor program (WIA). Additionally, WIOA promotes accountability and transparency through negotiated performance goals that are publicly available, fosters regional collaboration within states through local workforce areas, and improves the American Job Center system.
Training Programs offered by NCWorks include:
Grow With Google – IT Certificates in Data Analysis, Project management, and UX Design. This program is free to qualified job seekers. For more information visit: ecwdb.org/for-individual.php?Grants-Special-Programs-Grow-with-Google-45
On-The-Job Training – allows job candidates to work and receive a paycheck as they gain experience in a specific job. For more information for job seekers and employers visit: ecwdb.org/for-employer.php?Services-On-the-Job-Training-6.
NCWorks NextGen Youth Programs are specifically designed for out-of-school youth ages 16 to 24 years old, to help them discover their career path and training options for employability. For more information about College Training Options that lead to a certificate, degree, or diploma are available through the Region’s seven local community colleges, for more information visit: ecwdb.org/for-individual.php?Youth-NextGen-Youth-Program-8.
By Johanna Schaefer, Outreach Specialist
Eastern Carolina Workforce Development Board, Inc