Reaching down and doubling up: Challenges and opportunities for rural workforce development through greater localization and network strategies

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  • February 28, 2019
Creator
  • Breit, Eric
    • Affiliation: College of Arts and Sciences, Department of City and Regional Planning
Abstract
  • In Bertie County, North Carolina, workforce development providers acknowledge that they are challenged to meet the population they serve. Many factors are cited for this, including poor infrastructure, the distance to services due to the county’s large geography, and institutional distrust. There is a belief that existing employment training opportunities, most offered at the community colleges or by the county NCWorks (formerly JobLink) office, are underutilized. The recommended response involves closer collaboration between existing state-funded training supports and more localized community-based and faith-based entities. The strengths and challenges of this kind of public/nonprofit partnership lie with the unique characteristics of each entity. Community colleges have existing curriculum and educational professionals on staff. Community colleges and larger regional social service entities, supported by the workforce investment consortiums, are also characterized as having more organizational capacity and longevity. They also depend more on government support, which is a relatively stable source of funding, but which also has a high level of reporting and scrutiny, and can be impacted by political volatility. In contrast, the community-based and faith-based organizations have the trust of and are located in closer proximity to the individuals being served. They also are characterized by a nimbleness of decision making, and a reliance on sweat equity and private contributions, which allows for more flexibility in decision making but which requires professional skill, time, and resources to sustain. This paper explores the opportunities and the challenges of collaborations between community colleges and community-based organization as a means to increase the delivery of job training opportunities in rural settings. Specifically, this paper will address the following questions: how can college/community workforce partnerships overcome challenges to employment training that are due to geographic and institutional challenges unique to rural communities; in what ways do community providers have to be strengthened to successfully integrate into networks and implement workforce initiatives; and how can these collaborations be built in a way so that they are long lasting and can leverage the resources of other potential partners necessary for community-wide economic and workforce development impact.
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  • In Copyright
Degree
  • Master of City and Regional Planning
Academic concentration
  • Economic Development
Degree granting institution
  • University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill
Graduation year
  • 2014
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  • a342e20b-6c62-4cde-8873-4f6988b00815

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