Several Honored at Workforce Development Awards Banquet

The Eastern Carolina Workforce Development Board held their annual awards banquet in New Bern, Thursday night, honoring program participants, board members and partnerships with local agencies.

The board serves nine counties including Carteret, Craven, Greene, Duplin, Jones, Lenoir, Onslow, Pamlico and Wayne counties. The board is a non-profit organization based in New Bern and is the designated administrative and fiscal agent for federal and state workforce development funds appropriated by the State's Department of Commerce to operate employment and training services in the region.

Executive Director Tammy Childers said the board is made up of community leaders appointed from each of the counties' elected officials, such as the Craven Board of Commissioners. "This year our budget exceeded $4 million and we served over 2,100 individuals in our Youth, Adult and Dislocated Worker Workforce Investment Act and Welfare to Work programs. Childers said. "At a time when the economy is on the downturn, we have been able to provide education, job training and employment opportunities through our network of JobLink Career Centers." said Oscar Herring, Lenoir County Commissioner and Chairman of the Eastern Carolina Job Training Consortium. "On behalf of the nine counties, we congratulate the Board and JobLink providers for their combined efforts in addressing the employment and training needs of the region", commented Herring.

The board has operated since 1982 and focuses on career planning, training and placement services through their JobLink Career Centers with host agencies in each county.

Guest speaker Carol Conway, Executive Director of the Southern Growth Policies Board in Durham, discussed the changing workforce needs for the new Southern economy. Awards were given for Outstanding Employer of the Year, Outstanding Adult Participants of the Year, Outstanding Youth Participant of the Year and to Service Providers and JobLink Career Centers.

One of the winners of the Outstanding Adult Participant Award was Kristie Marion. Marion was laid off from her job at Hampton Industries in Kinston where she was employed as a production worker. After initial assessment from the JobLink Career Center, Kristie applied for the Workforce Investment Act Dislocated Worker Program where she was able to obtain her training as a Surgical Technician at Lenoir Community College. Kristie graduated in July 2002 and employed full time as a Surgical Technician with Wayne Memorial Hospital in Goldsboro.

Other Award winners were Caswell Center in Kinston, NC, Outstanding Employer of the Year, Sharki Humphrey, Outstanding Welfare-to-Work Participant, Laurie Shultz, Outstanding Adult Participant for the Workforce Investment Act Adult Program and Andrea Cosio, Outstanding Youth Participant. Outstanding performance awards went to Carteret County Schools, Carteret Community College, Lenoir Community College, Wayne Community College, and Greene Lamp, Inc.

The Workforce Development annual banquet was held at the New Bern Riverfront Convention Center.