2010

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Authority of Ne hoba County irutJally presented the proposal to supervisors. Supervisors had considered a proposal by the John C. Stennis Institute of Govenunent at Mis– sissippi State University that would create n regional training center here for so-called "green" construction jobs, targeting high school dropouts, among others. Stanley Salter, chairman of the lOA Board, said last week that the partnership with ECCC would provide a broader spec– trum of training for any type of industrial or manufacturing jobs as opposed to the Stennis pro– po al, which was centralized mostly in the construction indus– try. Obbie Riley, president of the Board of Supervisors last month expressed hope of combining the two proposals because of the status the green initiative would give the application, but last week threw his support toward the East Central project backed by the lOA. "I'm going to take the posi– tion that lOAhas had a chance to go over both proposals and con– sider which one has the best chance for funding." Riley said. Requi.rcmen~ for the EDA grant proposals lllClude m\est– ments tit t: • S , rt small and medium · ·unuruue .

qualified workforce so that when recrwts are brought in they see a pool established of skilled workers ready to be employed or n tmining system that can quick– ly mnke ready a population to be employed," Whitlock srud. Under the grant; ECCC and Neshoba County would choose a "navigator" to work out of the business enterprise center to identify and recruit former man– ufacturing employees and other dislocated workers from the pool of 4,500 who want to qual– ify for new modem manufactur– ing jobs. The "navigator" will basical– ly hold the hands of the dislocat– ed workers through an assess– ment and the training, all the way to job placement should the jobs become available, Whitlock said. After Whitlock's presenta– tion, District 3 Supervisor Harold Reynolds made the motion to apply for the EDA grant to fund the training pro– gram. "I think it would be a disserv– ice to the unemployed here in Neshoba County if we didn't," Reynolds said. Supervisors voted unani– mously for the proposal. The Industrial Development

• Assist the most severely

Grant Conlinued from page 1A

impacted communities.

• Have a high return on

investment.

• Support regionalism, inno– vation and entrepreneurship. Those four make up 20 per– cent each - or 80 percent - of the grant requirements. Other requirements include investments that support global trade/competitiveness and that grow the "green'' economy.

some have moved away some have tnken other jobs 0'-'t'l the year.;, Whitlock srud .. e e timnte a reasonable plOt of dhlocated workers inter– esttd lll modem manufacturing ~ould be about 2.500," he d Modem manufacturing has cb:inged -.mce many of these workers held manufacturing job~. Whitlock said. citing a need for new training. Those without manufactur– ing JObs experience will need baste training to qualify for man– ufacturing jobs. he said. Loder the EDA grant propos– al. ECCC would utilize its $400,000 grant from the Wal– Mart Foundation along with in– kind contributions to provide the 5 percent match requirement. The goal of the new training program would be to teach not only basic jobs skills, but also advancing manufacturing cours– es ranging from robotics to hydraulics. among others. "This grant gives us a chance to quantify a better technically-