Wayne Community College has been awarded funds to assist students with short-term training and acquiring in-demand credentials.
The college’s Workforce Continuing Education division has received $15,000 from the NC Tobacco Trust Fund Commission for Project Skill-UP.
In addition to scholarships for courses to upgrade or learn new job skills, the program provides career assessments and National Career Readiness Certification preparation to students who are unemployed or underemployed and impacted by changes in the tobacco industry or working in agriculture-related fields.
Training options available to Project Skill-UP fund recipients include heating, ventilation, and air conditioning (HVAC), welding, wastewater treatment, and other courses and career pathways.
Interested persons can contact Project Skill-UP Coordinator Maxine Cooper at (919) 739-6938 or mcooper@waynecc.edu for more information on the program and qualified courses.
Project Skill-UP was piloted in 2006 with a North Carolina Tobacco Trust Fund (NCTTF) grant to the N.C. Community College System. The NCTTF has continued to fund the training initiative and Wayne Community College has received those funds in the past and was awarded $15,000 for the current funding cycle.
The goal of Project Skill-UP is to help individuals in North Carolina affected by the changes in the tobacco industry “update” their current skills and provide them with additional marketable skills reflective of fast-growing occupations and/or new industries within their local communities.
The objectives of the project are to 1) provide short-term training programs supporting local workforce needs, 2) develop educational programs supporting diverse utilization of agriculture resources and enterprises, and 3) create education opportunities to assist small farmers in accessing new methods to support business sustainability.
The NC General Assembly created the NC Tobacco Trust Fund Commission in 2000 to lessen the financial impact to farmers and tobacco-related businesses caused by the sharp decline of tobacco in the agricultural economy. The commission’s original funding was established through tobacco industry annual payments as a result of the Master Settlement Agreement. Its current funding comes from a set appropriation of funds. Since 2001, the NCTTF has awarded over 320 grants to public and nonprofit agencies that meet the goals of strengthening the rural and tobacco-dependent economies of North Carolina.
Wayne Community College is a public, learning-centered institution with an open-door admission policy located in Goldsboro, N.C. As it works to develop a highly skilled and competitive workforce, the college serves 12,000 individuals annually as well as businesses, industry, and community organizations with high quality, affordable, accessible learning opportunities, including more than 70 college credit programs. WCC’s mission is to meet the educational, training, and cultural needs of the communities it serves.