The Elon Academy Business Partner Program
Elon Academy is an intensive three-year enrichment and leadership
development program at Elon University for academically talented
Alamance-Burlington high school students with financial need and little
or no family history of college attendance. The Academy will receive a
transformation grant to support The Business Partner Program, a
four-part program that includes workshops to prepare students for paid
internships with local businesses, a social skills program to ensure
student awareness of appropriate workplace behavior, field trips to
explore potential career opportunities, and a mentoring program to
provide participants with role models and advocates in the business
community. “The mission of the Elon Academy is to inspire academically
promising Alamance County high school students who have a financial
need and/or no family history of college to pursue higher education,
build leadership skills, and develop an active sense of social
responsibility,” states Darris Means, Elon Academy
Assistant
Director of Student Life and Leadership Development. Means adds
“Through the Transformation Grant, the Elon Academy will be able to
provide these bright students with opportunities to learn about the
economic benefits and job opportunities in the Triad, while providing
them with hands-on learning opportunities to become future leaders of
the region”.
Central Park Glass Training
Central Park NC, a regional economic development project designed to
complement local heritage and cultural tourism, will use a
transformation grant to introduce high school students and young adults
(ages 16-20) to the fundamentals of working with hot glass and the
studio glass art business. The program will begin in the fall semester
of 2008 and take place in Montgomery County. Central Park Glass
Training will include sessions in glassblowing, glass casting safety,
glass studio equipment and technology, cold working and portfolio
development.
PTP WIRED Transformation Grants
The goal of this program is to create a vibrant glass community that
complements the other creative enterprises in the Piedmont Triad
region. The creation of a pool of talented glass artists will
contribute to economic transformation and facilitate entrepreneurial
growth in Montgomery County.
Jobs on the Outside (JOTO)
Goodwill Industries of Central North Carolina will collaborate with
prisoner re-entry and training-focused organizations in Guilford,
Randolph and Rockingham Counties to provide high quality support
services for ex–offenders with potential to meet the workforce needs of
area businesses. The Jobs on the Outside (JOTO) program targets
ex-offenders who have demonstrated academic aptitude and personal
fortitude, as evidenced by their achievements prior to and during
incarceration. JOTO will provide coursework in self-management, job
placement and career services, cultural and social norms, and
leadership. Additionally, participating ex-offenders will receive
specialized training in a variety of fields. Clinton Thomas, Jr., Vice
President, Career Development Services, Goodwill Industries states that
“JOTO is holistic in its approach, ensuring not only that participants
have the opportunity to receive training in specific skill sets, but
also that they receive support services critical to maintaining a
healthy and productive lifestyle.” JOTO is a comprehensive,
collaborative approach to the training and placement of well-qualified
ex-offenders into innovative educational programs that offer
certification and jobs in advanced manufacturing, healthcare, logistics
and distribution and the furniture industry.
Project Youth Entrepreneurs Surry (Project Y.E.S.)
Through a partnership with Surry County area schools, Surry
Community College and Surry County Economic Development, Project Y.E.S.
will develop and implement an alternative approach to the promotion of
entrepreneurship to area youth as both a viable career opportunity and
an economic development strategy. The program will promote
entrepreneurship by training and educating classroom teachers and will
engage community business leaders and business owners to serve as
mentors to participating students. Project Y.E.S. will help students
understand the demands and opportunities available through
entrepreneurship while increasing their potential to become business
owners themselves. “With this program we would like to encourage
students to catch the entrepreneurial spirit and to nurture our youth
into becoming productive business owners, citizens, and employees for
our community,” says Surry County Director of Career and Technical
Education, Jill Reinhardt. She adds, “Through Project Y.E.S., we hope
to create our own center of excellence, and this innovative approach of
expanding education beyond the four walls of a classroom will afford
students the opportunity to practice innovation with authentic hands-on
learning opportunities.”
Combining Resources for Advancement of the Furniture Trade (CRAFT Team)
The CRAFT Team is a collaboration of furniture industry
representatives and business service representatives from participating
agencies working together to develop a comprehensive approach to ensure
the existence of highly qualified workforce/applicant pool for the
Piedmont Triad’s contract manufacturing furniture industry. The award
will be used to develop a furniture upholstery curriculum that will
give students training in all basic skills necessary for companies to
build upon with company-specific in-house training. The program is
designed to begin with some very basic skills in upholstering and
progressively move through the more difficult techniques required by
the industry. Work Keys will be used to assess the existing skills of
applicants. Once deemed qualified, applicants will complete additional
human resource development programs, following which they are
guaranteed jobs by industry partners.
PTP WIRED Transportation Grants
The total funding awarded by PTP through these five grants is more
than $424,000. Including leveraged funds, the total value of the five
projects is well over $800,000. Theresa Reynolds, WIRED Project
Manager, says, “these transformation grants reflect our intent to
foster replicable, sustainable programs that will enhance our economic
competitiveness, transform workforce delivery systems, and reflect new
collaborations across the region.” Reynolds adds “it is important for
the region to focus on our rural, minority and underserved communities
as we seek to enhance our ability to compete in the global marketplace,
to ensure no one is left behind.”
The teams reviewing the grants included regional partners
representing the PTP’s WIRED Action Committee, area Workforce
Development Boards, the NC Employment Security Commission, K-12
education, regional entrepreneurs and entrepreneurial organizations,
university and community college systems and the Piedmont Triad
Partnership. Following this group’s review, the WIRED Action Committee
and the Piedmont Triad Partnership Board of Directors approved the
review teams’ recommendations.
The Piedmont Triad Partnership (PTP), one of seven regional economic
development partnerships in North Carolina, is the economic development
organization representing the 12-county Piedmont Triad region. The PTP
is the lead organization for the U.S. Department of Labor-funded
Workforce Innovation in Regional Economic Development (WIRED)
initiative, which supports the development of an integrated regional
economic development and workforce development strategy for the
Piedmont Triad. The Piedmont Triad, the nation's 37th-largest metro
region with more than 1.5 million residents, includes the counties of
Alamance, Caswell, Davidson, Davie, Forsyth, Guilford, Montgomery,
Randolph, Rockingham, Stokes, Surry, and Yadkin.
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