Cleveland State Community College recently received a Workforce Investment Agency 4 grant totaling approximately $300,000 through the East Tennessee Human Resources Agency, Inc. for providing services at the Vonore site through the Tennessee Career Center. Monroe County is one of the five counties in the CSCC service area. The Career Center is located in the Tellico Education Consortium (TEC) facility operated by the college through an agreement between the Tellico Reservoir Development Agency (TRDA) and the Tennessee Board of Regents (TBR). 

The new grant will enable the Career Center to continue to provide services at the Vonore site through the Tennessee Career Center. Cleveland State has been and continues to be an active participant in federal and state grant programs. For over ten years, the TEC/CSCC and East Tennessee Human Resource Agency, Inc. has been coordinating training and educational programs and integrating needs of local industries. Through this network, training programs have been developed and delivered, industry needs have been identified and evaluated, employee referrals have been made and many dislocated workers have been retrained in technical areas. 

“The mayor gave the nod for Cleveland State to be the administrative entity for the Monroe County program because Cleveland State had been involved in the Job Training Partnership Act (JTPA) program,” stated Cheryl West, Workforce Investment Act (WIA) program manager for Monroe County. “I, along with Irene McCowan, who is our Youth Coordinator, have enrollment goals for the county for each of our categories of individuals— adults, dislocated workers, and youth, and we make sure we reach our enrollment goals and make sure we are serving Monroe County citizens through WIA.”

Patty Weaver, director of CSCC’s Vonore site/TEC, said, “This really benefits us because as Cheryl provides a training plan for someone and he or she is looking at going back to school to get trained, then, of course CSCC becomes a viable option, as do other schools that are on our training list. It is really beneficial for our dislocated workers, especially right now with the shape of our economy because Cheryl gets right in with that first response and can assist students with many things, like tuition payment and other items they may need.”

“We really try to bridge the gap in their skills, particularly with our dislocated workers who are out of work through no fault of their own,” stated West. “If they need skills training or a refresher training in order to get back out there and be a participating member of our workforce, then we are here to assist them.”

In addition to the dislocated worker and the adult, there is a category of the grant that targets both in-school and out-of-school youth. The Career Center staff will continue to actively work with the school system to promote in-school services and services to those who will soon graduate. Two of the major focuses of this initiative are assisting youth to obtain employment and assisting them as they work toward achieving their educational goals. The Career Center offers many services to youth including tutoring, study skills training, summer employment opportunities, occupational skills training, leadership development opportunities, comprehensive guidance and counseling, etc. West said, “For students who don’t have their GED, WIA can help them pay to obtain their GED, enabling them to get jobs and also become participating members of our workforce.”

The Tennessee Career Center of Monroe County is located at 59B Excellence Way in Vonore. It is open Monday-Friday from 8 a.m. – 4:30 p.m. Many people can use the Career Center, including job seekers looking for employment, a better job or a career change, individuals that have or are going to lose their employment as a result of a business layoff or closure, employers looking for assistance in hiring and retaining employees and students and youth looking for assistance in making a career choice. For more information, call (423) 884-2400.