“Chatham County has expanded eligibility for assistance to help residents attend college tuition and fee-free.

Adults in Chatham County who graduated from high school two years ago or more are encouraged to apply for the new Central Carolina Promise Plus scholarship program. Application is required to receive the assistance.

This is an expansion on existing assistance available for eligible recent high-school graduates attending CCCC, funded by Chatham, Lee, and Harnett counties for their residents. Chatham is the first of three counties to broaden eligibility to include less-recent high school graduates.

“Everyone must follow their own path in life, and sometimes that means we are better positioned to pursue higher education later in our journey,” said Chatham County Board of Commissioners Chair Amanda Robertson.

Mark Hall, CCCC’s Chatham County Provost, said that local employers and economic development partners have also shared excitement about the expansion.

“Their future workforce is going to be trained without any financial obstacles in the way,” he said. ”

Read more at Central Carolina Community College’s website.

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PITTSBORO, N.C. – Central Carolina Community College (CCCC) is proud to announce the receipt of a $6.3 million award from the National Science Foundation’s Division of Advanced Technological Education (NSF ATE) to establish the Environmental and Natural Resources Technology (EARTh) Center. The EARTh Center, one of only nine “national centers” funded by NSF ATE, will serve as a national hub for supporting technical education and workforce training needs within the Environmental Technology sector across the United States.

Dr. Lisa M. Chapman, CCCC President, says: “Central Carolina focuses its energy on being a first-class opportunity for all of our students and a leading workforce partner for all of the industries we serve. While we are very fortunate to be in the center of a dynamic and growing economy, even more exciting is the diversity of industries supporting this economic success. All of these industries engage and impact our environment in varied ways. Leveraging the resources of the EARTh Center will strengthen our ability to effectively support the rapidly changing workforce needs associated with today’s technological advances.”

The scope of industries served by the EARTh Center is vast, and include those commonly associated with the “environment” like forestry, wildlife sciences, and resource management. But several other industries, such as environmental health & safety, water & wastewater management, energy efficiency, and renewable energy fall under the environmental and natural resource umbrella.

According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, employment in these types of industries is projected to grow significantly over the next decade, with thousands of new opportunities arising annually. The EARTh Center is positioned to play a leading role in preparing technicians for the dynamic challenges of modern society by merging hands-on technical training with a comprehensive understanding of the interrelated aspects of environmental issues.

The Center’s primary initiative will be to collaborate with educators and industry leaders to develop instructional and training materials in support of environmental industries. The Center’s services include an Instructional Design team and an Extended Reality (XR) team to develop training simulations for technical programs. Mentoring services will also be provided to support educators on how to pursue and manage NSF ATE funding, and both in-person and virtual professional development opportunities will be offered throughout the year at locations throughout the country.

“The EARTh Center’s focus on environmental technology spans a wide spectrum of workforce areas, including alternative fuel vehicles, renewable energy, water operations, emergency preparedness, and energy efficiencies among many others which directly impact existing and future employers in the region,” said Margaret Roberton, CCCC Vice President for Workforce Development/Chief of Staff. “The deep resources of industry experts and the ability to support curriculum development in these areas will enhance the college’s ability to respond to these important and emerging skills requirements. We are excited to begin working with the EARTh Center’s staff to support students at CCCC seeking to enter these career opportunities and to support the region in responding to skilled workforce demands.”

The EARTh Center will work closely with partners such as the National Partnership for Environmental Technology Education (PETE) and the Nahant Marsh Education Center, as well as community college and industry leaders from across the U.S., to drive the mission and goals of the EARTh Center forward.

For more information, visit www.earthcntr.org, or email to info@earthcntr.org.

Or, contact Tiffany Breindel, EARTh Center Project Manager, at tbreindel@cccc.edu, or Andy McMahan, Principal Investigator for the EARTh Center project, at amcmahan@cccc.edu. Or, call (919) 545-8036 to speak to these individuals.

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AdvanceNC is formally described as “an innovative workforce development ecosystem developing a robust talent pipeline to support unprecedented economic growth in central North Carolina.”

What it boils down to is 10 community colleges, two state universities and six regional workforce development boards combining what they do best to provide opportunity for local families and develop expert workers for the exploding number of advanced manufacturing companies in the region. Though AdvanceNC focuses on 18 counties, it also is being promoted as a model that can be replicated all across the state.

Speaking to an audience at Central Carolina Community College’s E. Eugene Moore Manufacturing and Biotech Solutions Center in Sanford, Gov. Cooper explained why this new coalition has so much promise. “North Carolina has the best array of public and private universities in the country, bar none …. And I can say without hesitation that we have the best community college system in the entire country,” he said. “When you couple that with our effective workforce development boards and their staff, it is a sight to see.

“All of them working together is a mighty force and the collaboration that will come with AdvanceNC, this initiative, it will do more than I can think of to help prepare our workforce for the jobs of today and tomorrow.”

Community colleges have long been a driving force statewide in workforce development. The North Carolina Community College System offers a sweeping portfolio of initiatives designed to train workers for new careers and help companies develop workers already on the job. But because those apprenticeships and courses are offered by individual colleges with well-defined service areas, it’s not always simple to work across borders.

During the signing ceremony, Dr. Jeff Cox, president of the North Carolina Community College System, said that reality is one reason AdvanceNC is needed. “Companies don’t care anything about our little territories for individual community colleges,” he said. “They don’t want to know about competition between the universities and the community colleges. They want us all working together to meet their workforce needs. And that’s what this represents, 100 percent.”

Less than two years ago, Toyota announced it would build a new $1.29 billion automotive battery manufacturing plant at a Randolph County location not far from Greensboro that would create 1,750 new jobs. And the company added another $2.1 billion investment to that project just four months ago.

More big news broke just months after the initial Toyota announcement, in March 2022, when Vietnamese electric vehicle manufacturer VinFast announced a $4 billion advanced manufacturing plant near Moncure that is expected to create 7,500 jobs. VinFast was the largest economic development project in North Carolina history — for about five months. That’s when Wolfspeed, a silicon carbide manufacturer based in Durham, announced early last September that it would invest $5 billion to create a new manufacturing center that would bring 1,800 jobs to Siler City.

Such rapid expansion required a new approach to workforce development. But Rodney Carson, president of the North Carolina Association of Workforce Development Boards, isn’t worried about the state’s ability to adapt. Reflecting on innovations from early in his own workforce development career, Carson believes that the solution is finding new ways to develop workers, something North Carolina has done before.

“I think about how we pushed the envelope when it comes to workforce development,” Carson said. “AdvanceNC does exactly that. We continue to push the envelope on what workforce and the workforce ecosystem is in North Carolina. We were, 27 years ago, the shining example of what workforce development is in this country as a whole. AdvanceNC pushes that envelope even further and continues to push us out to the edge of what it means to truly take care of our citizens.”

It was a sentiment shared by Peter Hans, president of the University of North Carolina System. He reflected on North Carolina’s transformation over generations from an agricultural economy based largely on textiles and tobacco, into major hubs for research and banking, and now into the kind of advanced manufacturing center defined by Toyota, VinFast and Wolfspeed.

“At every turn, North Carolina has trusted in the capacity of its people to learn, to adapt and compete,” Hans said. “We may be a valley of humility, as the old saying goes, but we’ve always known that a properly educated North Carolinian can tackle any challenge and master any new field on God’s green earth. So our task is to make sure that every one of our citizens has that opportunity and that anyone with the drive and the talent can play a role in building the future of this great state.”

AdvanceNC partners include the following community colleges, universities, and workforce development boards.

• Community Colleges – Alamance, Central Carolina, Durham Tech, Fayetteville Tech, Johnston, Piedmont, Randolph, Sandhills, Vance-Granville, and Wake Tech.
• Universities – N.C. A&T State University and N.C. State University.
• Workforce Development Boards – Capital Area, Durham, Kerr-Tar, Lumber River, Mid-Carolina, and Piedmont Triad Regional.

Central Carolina Community College President Dr. Lisa M. Chapman introduced the ceremony with some statistics for the 18-county region. One of them was a huge labor force of 1.5 million — a group that offers a wealth of talent. The goal of AdvanceNC, she said, is to make sure those workers have the right skills to take advantage of the opportunities now available. And that companies can find the highly skilled workers they need — not only now, but for decades to come.

“We are great at attracting businesses to North Carolina and it is great for our residents, because that means family-sustaining wages and that means a great life for North Carolinians,” she said. “But we need to make sure that we don’t simply attract those businesses … but that we do an exceptional job of keeping them here and supporting them in the way that we need to.”

As Gov. Cooper said, “North Carolina is the top state for business thanks to our well trained, talented and diverse workforce. The AdvanceNC initiative will help prepare our students for the jobs of today and tomorrow.”

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At a time when companies are clamoring for workers while trying to navigate a treacherous economy, no state is meeting their needs more effectively than North Carolina. The Tar Heel State is America’s Top State for Business in CNBC’s annual competitiveness study.

It is the second consecutive year at the top for North Carolina — a rare feat in the CNBC study, which launched in 2007. Business and the economy in the state have been on a tear since the pandemic, and the state has scarcely looked back.

In 2023 alone, the state has amassed a trophy case full of economic development wins, ranging from a $130 million investment by Bosch to expand its power tool manufacturing facility in Lincolnton, to a $458 million biomanufacturing facility to be built in Greensboro by cellular therapeutics company ProKidney, and even a $58 million turkey production facility in Goldsboro by poultry breeder Select Genetics.

The projects come on top of major wins last year, including Vietnamese electric vehicle manufacturer VinFast announcing it will build its first North American plant in the state, and Durham-based semiconductor materials manufacturer Wolfspeed expanding its operations there.

Continue reading on the CNBC website.

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SANFORD — The events, unrelated and seemingly discordant, would create — rather quickly — the inspiration for something not found anywhere in North Carolina, or perhaps the entire eastern seaboard.

A mainstay manufacturer’s closure and move to Mexico. A serendipitous round of golf in Sanford. The largest single donation in Central Carolina Community College history. The need for more training and workforce development space for any massive economic development project that might come this way.

They built on one another quickly in the summer and fall of 2021 to create the kernel of a vision for a world-class education and training center, the largest of its kind focused on addressing advanced manufacturing and biotechnology workforce training.

Everything’s in place for it to happen.

It’ll be known as The Moore Center, and work on it has already begun. All CCCC President Dr. Lisa Chapman needs to bring it to completion is a little bit of time.

And about $50 million.

Continue reading on the Chatham News + Record website.

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As Lisa Chapman puts it, Central Carolina Community College is the largest North Carolina community college not located in an urban area. But, the president of CCCC also acknowledges that could change as its coverage area – Chatham, Harnett and Lee counties – continues to boom with growth.

Pretty soon, CCCC will have to “describe ourselves as a college that is not located in a rural area,” Chapman says.

The college has about 12,000 curriculum and short-term training students and will serve as the workforce engine powering the boom of what is being called the Carolina Core.

The Carolina Core is a roughly 120-mile corridor stretching from just west of Winston-Salem down to the Fayetteville area. The area includes parts of the Triad, Siler City, Sanford, Lillington and Dunn. The Carolina Core largely follows the route of U.S. Highway 421 – which could one day become an interstate.

Continue reading on the Triangle Business Journal website.

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Gov. Cooper and and officials with Wolfspeed announced Friday, Sept. 9, the company’s plans to bring its Durham-based facility to Siler City’s Chatham Advanced Manufacturing site. The move, which is the largest economic development win in state history, is expected to bring a $5 billion investment to the Tar Heel State.

“Wolfspeed’s continued investment in North Carolina validates the company’s confidence in North Carolina’s ability to deliver advanced manufacturing employees to meet the needs of this important industry,” NCCCS Interim President Dr. Carver said. “The North Carolina Community College System stands ready to assist all of the training partners to create the next world-class hub for silicon chip manufacturing.”

Continue reading on the N.C. Community College System website.

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SILER CITY – The Chatham School of Science & Engineering (CSSE) has made tremendous progress since opening in the 2015-16 school year.

The public school, which is operated by Chatham County Schools in partnership with Central Carolina Community College, currently is home to approximately 120 students. Students have the opportunity to earn a high school diploma and an associate degree at no cost to the student.

The school lists its mission “to provide an atmosphere that encourages and nurtures creativity and innovation through acceptance, collaboration, equity, integrity, and personal responsibility in order to help students build a commitment to social, emotional and academic growth and excellence.”

CSSE Principal Bobby Dixon has been with the school since its beginnings. “The early college program has its appeal to parents and students,” said Dixon. “The no-cost college really appeals to the parents, and I believe the rigor and higher expectations attracts those students who are dedicated to academics.  It was certainly time for Chatham County Schools to enter the early college arena.  I also believe our partnership with CCCC has played a large role in our success.”

That academic success was certainly evident during the 2021-2022 academic year. This year’s graduating class earned over $2.3 million in scholarships. One graduate – Dylan Hailey Philipps — received the prestigious Park Scholarship from N.C. State University. Three students – Deontae Jordan Glover, Soren Kappelman, and Annika Lowe – were recipients of CCCC academic honors. CSSE students continue to dominate the district science fair and advance through regionals and state, and the Beta Club has had state and national winners.

“Our smaller environment enables our students and teachers to develop positive relationships.  The amount of support we are able to provide makes us unique,” said Dixon.

Fae Goodman has had a close-up view of CSSE’s growth, as CCCC’s liaison to the school. “We’ve got a unique setup — students spend their first two years in Siler City, on the campus of the Chatham Center for Innovation, where they focus largely on their high school requirements and learning how to successfully take a college class. For their third, fourth, and fifth years, they’re here in Pittsboro on our [CCCC Chatham Main] Campus full-time,” said Goodman.

“Students who come here get to learn — in a supportive environment — how to balance increased freedom and responsibility, which always go hand-in-hand with one another,” said Goodman.

CCCC President Dr. Lisa M. Chapman says early colleges have been part of North Carolina’s Learn and Earn initiative for over 17 years. “Our early colleges in Chatham, Harnett, and Lee are some of the best examples of CCCC’s great partnerships with our three counties’ school systems,” said Dr. Chapman. “They are intentionally designed to both serve a diverse population of students that reflects the demographics of our communities, and to provide these students with the personalized programming and support that allows them to excel in their learning and academic goals.

“Many of our early college students serve as student leaders during their time at CCCC and continue that leadership and service mindset during their next stop after the college. They are not just our leaders of tomorrow, they are our leaders of today,” said Dr. Chapman.

“The relationship Chatham County Schools has with Central Carolina Community College is extremely strong, benefiting our students as well as the community,” said Chatham County Schools Superintendent Dr. Anthony Jackson. “The early college program we have created in partnership with CCCC showcases the work we can do together. With our students graduating from the Chatham School for Science and Engineering with both a degree from Chatham County Schools and an associate’s degree they’ve earned by taking classes at Central Carolina, we are able to give them a great advance on their college education.

“The students enrolled in the Chatham School for Science and Engineering are dedicated to their education and want the challenge of the rigorous curriculum this program provides. The success of the program is reflected in the fact that 90 percent of the class earns their associate’s degree at the same time they are earning their high school diploma,” said Dr. Jackson.

“In addition, the graduating class for the 2021-2022 school year earned more than $2 million in scholarships. We are very proud of our students, we are very proud to partner with CCCC on the early college and we look forward to seeing the program continue to thrive and grow.”

Learn more about CSSE by visiting the website, www.chatham.k12.nc.us/Domain/1813, or call the school at 919-663-5899. The school is located at 501 Martin Luther King Jr. Blvd. in Siler City.

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North Carolina’s 58 community colleges have traditionally competed in some ways with one another for students — and the resulting funding based on enrollment.

But as enrollment declines persist and colleges emphasize the need for accessible student services, among other reasons, that competitive relationship is increasingly shifting to a formally collaborative one.

“Exemplary institutions have kind of taken the onus on themselves to become not only providers for students, but also to be able to serve as a convener and a problem solver for the region and for their community,” said Tess Henthorne, senior program manager at the Aspen Institute’s College Excellence Program.

Continue reading on the EdNC website.

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GREENSBORO — Chatham County Schools was awarded the School District Scholastic Cup on Saturday night at the North Carolina Association for Scholastic Activity (NCASA) awards.

The award honors the district whose schools earn the most points through participation and excellence in NCASA competitions. Districts earn points by winning competitions like quiz bowl or science olympiad — basically, any non-athletic academic competition

CCS won the mid-sized district cup award at the ceremony, which took place at the UNC-Greensboro auditorium. Three district cups were given out based on size of school district.

NCASA has hosted award events in the past, but nothing to this scale. Previous events were held in high school auditoriums or multipurpose rooms with limited fanfare, but this year organizers pulled out all the stops: guests at the ceremony walked down a red carpet dressed to the nines as a balloon arch and complimenting photographers greeted them. They were then ushered into a reception room filled with hors d’oeuvres and a student jazz band playing.

Continue reading on the Chatham News + Record website.

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