Re Skill

"Cares Act" money is also funding a program to help people who have lost their jobs because of the pandemic.

Roll vo in monitor "cares act" money is also funding a program to help people who have lost their jobs because of the pandemic.

The state is launching a new initiative.

It's called "re-skill mississippi."

The program offers anyone who's lost a job a chance to learn a new skill..

People can enroll at community colleges to take classes and get training to land a job at one of the industries in the state... our quentin smith speaks with a college about this new program..

He joins us live in the studio with more details... aundrea.... lawmakers have allocated 55 million dollars from its cares act money to cover the cost for the training.... east mississippi community college will offer classes and training starting in september.

The college says its their goal to get people back to work as quick as possible... preparing individuals for the workforce..

It's something east missisippi prides itself in... now they're keeping that momentum going... as part of re-skill mississippi, emcc is training workers displaced by covid- 19 find new jobs..

"we have training for manufacturing skills, we have training for welding, we have a composites program where people can go to work if they get selected through one of our local industry partners and working kind of with aviation, which is really fun, a certified nurses assistant program is qualified, and so all of these programs work together to help people find a quick entering into a job that they might have never considered before."

Dr. courtney taylor is the executive director of the community at emcc and says people have already expressed interest in the program..

There's also a component for on the job training so they can come to us and get the training, and then the employers that are interested can get up to 75% of your wages covered."

All of the classes and training offered is being funded through the cares act money.

Taylor says emcc will start their training in september.

These classes are typically a month or less, sometimes they spread over a couple of months, but it's a couple of days a week, it's not a full-time commitment like our degree programs are."

Taylor says emcc has partnerships with multiple industries in the golden triangle.

She believes those will now come in handy as the help individuals develop new skills.... " companies know that they are getting the skill sets that they need also because they work with us hand-in-hand, they meet with us every month, and we're talking through these things that way we know that everything we're doing is to benefit the person that they can go to work quickly, easily, and they can be a valuable team member as quickly as possible also."

The new initiative is also for individuals who've had their hours reduced due to the pandemic... the program runs through december... for more information about re-skill mississippi... visit our website at wcbi dot com... developing