The Richmond County Board of Commissioners is scheduled to hear about American Recovery and Reinvestment Act funding from Pee Dee Region Workforce Development Board Director Linda Parker when they meet Monday.
A copy of a report was included in the advanced packet sent out before the meeting.
A chart in the report shows funding will got the JobLink Career Center at the Employment Security Commission in the amounts of nearly $274,000 for services for dislocated workers, and more than $87,000 in funding for adult services.
In addition, more than $222,000 will go to the Richmond County Community Support Center in Rockingham for youth services. In parentheses, these services are described as including summer jobs for youth ages 16 to 24.
According to the report, the North Carolina Division of Workforce Development is requesting this money be spent by June 30, 2010, and it is expected to be available early this month.
The report reads these funds are meant to get people back to work by “assisting workers who are facing unprecedented challenges to retool their skills and re-establish themselves in viable career paths. Drawing on the workforce system’s expertise in developing our workers, the One-Stop system (JobLink Career Centers) across our workforce development areas, will target services to meet the challenging needs of workers and employees to hopefully lift their families from poverty to middle class.”
There is an emphasis expressed through a bold font in the report when it mentions “transparency and accountability of expenditure of funds.”
It states “the funds provide more than an injection of workforce development resources into our communities. The significant investment of funds presents an extraordinary and unique opportunity for the workforce system to accelerate its transformational efforts and demonstrate its ability to innovate and implement effective (JobLink) service delivery strategies.”
In a previous interview, Parker discussed three strategies the funds will be used for, emphasizing short-term training and the public assistance of private employers to hire people who may not yet qualify for a position but are training to qualify, and making available money to train their existing workforce.
North Carolina Employment Security Commission Local Office Manager Judy Carpenter said the funds will be used to further assist dislocated workers, particularly those laid-off in plant closing by UCO and Hane’s, as well as getting workers short-term training certifications through the community college.
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