How Community Colleges help North Carolina to lure new companies and keep old ones

Bill Ingram, President of Durham Technical Community College

A strong partnership with the state’s 58 community colleges is a cornerstone of North Carolina’s remarkable economic success.  (www.ncccs.cc.nc.us/ for more information about the North Carolina system). The state supports company expansion by generous training programs delivered by local community colleges.  According to William Ingram, President of Durham Technical Community College, “North Carolina would rather subsidize industry by paying for employee training than give tax breaks.  If the company moves the first strategy leaves behind an educated workforce while the second strategy may provide no lasting benefit.”

Like most states, North Carolina has a system of workforce development (also called regional employment) boards supported by federal funds.  President Ingram described this system as not being very significant to local community colleges.  President of the North Carolina Community College System, Scott Ralls, emphasized that direct state funds were the key to economic progress in North Carolina. “Our community colleges have a tradition of supporting economic development and the customized job program helps make that happen”, stated Ralls.

The customized job program in North Carolina, run by the North Carolina Community College System, is designed to help “industries improve their productivity and profitability to assure their continued presence in North Carolina .”  Even in a recession year, North Carolina provided $12.5 Million in new funds for this program in 2009-2010.  Because the community college system is able to retain unexpended funds from previous years, almost $20 Million is now available for North Carolina’s community colleges for workforce education and training.

N.C. Community College System President Ralls spoke of the long-term value of using community colleges to support employee training for local companies.  “Over time, our community colleges develop relations with companies that are very helpful in times of economic stress.” For example, when a company is thinking about consolidating, the local community college president can call company officials to work to ensure that local jobs are retained.