ARC Power Grant Activities Underway
June 9, 2017
WEST ALABAMA WORKS INITIATIVE 2020 KICKS OFF
- Workforce Center is open and staffed from 9 am to 4 pm Monday through Thursday and 9 am to 1 pm on Friday.
o In the first 3 1/2 weeks, the center has had approximately 60 walk-ins. On Monday, May 21, 12 participants visited the center. These individuals discuss career pathways, training, and registered in Career Connect.
o 27 people have taken the TABE test at the center to determine if they need Adult Ed or can move on to Ready to Work. An additional 22 are scheduled for sessions.
o Evening Ready to Work classes will begin on June 12; the program lasts 5 weeks.
o SMP is using the center 1 day a week for job interviews.
- While ARC reports many of the POWER grant recipients are struggling to identify coal miners and individuals impacted by the coal industry, connections have been made with 538 individuals from our Brookwood outreach event two years ago, plus an additional 103 individuals reached since February 2017. This is a total of 642 people connected with the coal industry either through direct employment, supply chain employment, or status as a spouse/child of an individual.
- ARD Logistics has been spearheading funding for the training door and loading dock at the old Brookwood High School. Currently, $32,000 has been raised for the program.
- Consultants have completed Environmental Review for the ARC portion of the grant. The process has moved to the next stage of approval, the Bid and Plans stage. Bids have gone out and accepted for Harrison Construction, but there is additional paperwork that must be completed due to the use of federal dollars. Harrison Construction is ready to begin the demolition stage, once all of the federal Design Notice stage is completed. Ideally, this will begin in 30 days.
- Shelton State and the Tuscaloosa County School system continue to meet on the program curriculum to be taught in the Brookwood Technical High School.
- Students in the logistics class will begin in August 2017 at their local high school. Then, they begin to move to the Brookwood Technical High School in late September/October.
- Advanced Manufacturing/Injection Molding will begin in the spring semester at the Workforce Center. Classes will start in late summer at the Workforce Center for the MSSC portion.