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A vacant mill sits in the shadows of the North Carolina Mountains. Once home to a thread manufacturer, the brick structure is like a tombstone marking the death of another textile plant. Unemployment in the rural counties of Cherokee, Clay and Graham is above the state average of 8.7 percent.
As of December 2008, unemployment rate were 12.7% in Cherokee County, 11.5% in Graham County, and 9.3% in Clay County. Dr. Donna Tipton Rogers is President of Tri County Community College, which serves this western part of the state. "Our economy is really in a crucial state right now with the way the housing market has gone and prices and the different things we've had to face locally, but we hope that we can attract new businesses. That's what it's all about, and again to retain the [industries] that we have."
The secret weapon for growing this rural economy may be a machine or, more specifically, having the know-how to operate one of the machines that fabricates metal parts. The Snap On Tools factory in Murphy is one of the areas largest employers. About 200 people work at the plant where the average wage is $13 an hour. Hiring enough skilled employees is a challenge according to Human Resource Manager Alan Williams. "One of the things we needed when I first came here were trained machinists. We had people that had worked with it before but we felt like they needed additional training. So, we contacted Tri County Community College to see if they would partner with us to do that." Thanks to grants, donated equipment, and a remodeled building for classes, Tri County Community College is providing students with valuable skills and providing employers with a trained workforce.
Paul Worley is Director for Work Force and Economic Development for Tri County Community College. "About five years ago the community decided that they were going to develop a five year strategy and part of that was to make the transition from the textile and furniture industries and focus more on the higher technical jobs that come from metal manufacturing." That planning gives the community an edge they did not have before, says Cherokee County Manager David Badger. Badger says, "It is a nice carrot when you can sit down at the table and say not only do we have this many workers, we also have this training facility.
We can take you here and show you the kind of training, and have custom programs to meet your specific need." The students are benefiting too. "We've had 316 people come through the program, from certification classes on up to degree and to my knowledge any of them that have wanted a job has gotten a job. And that's saying a lot," says Machining Technology Instructor Phillip Jones. "The kinds of jobs we're providing are skilled. They're not going overseas. Overseas is sending their work over here. I think it is making a huge difference." Above the hum of machines chomping and spitting out metal, one of the students shares, "It's very satisfying; I enjoy programming the machines, setting them up, making the parts. You start with a piece of steel, and when you're done, you have something useful."
Dr. Tipton Rogers adds, "We took the needs of our community, we took the needs of our local industry and we were able to adapt those needs into a training initiative that truly gave the companies what they needed for high tech, more highly skilled labor pool that they were looking for and again our machinist program has been focused on metal side but it can be adapted to different areas. And that's something that we're proud of as well."
Tri-Country Community College
Main Campus
4600 East U.S. 64
Murphy, NC 28906
828.837.6810
Watch the NC Now Feature
An interview with Ms. Tipton