WEST POINT – For years, a lack of transportation kept the men at The Mission in West Point from accessing technical job training at East Mississippi Community College’s Communiversity.
Now a partnership with Mississippi State University is allowing the community college to take the training to them.
A pilot program born from the partnership will provide free electrical training to men who are participating in the 12-month residential treatment program, so when they finish, they will be prepared to start a career or enroll in a career technical course with EMCC.
“What we’re really excited about is the fact that they’ll have something that industry can come and look for that would help them find some good employment and move forward in their lives,” Dickie Bryan, founder of The Mission, told The Dispatch on Friday.
The faith-based nonprofit serves men who struggle with addition, who enter the facility either voluntarily or by court order.
Starting Feb. 18, the eight men chosen to be the inaugural class of the pilot program will meet twice a week to learn the fundamentals of electrical work in a building at The Mission, which is located at the old Bryan Foods plant site.
After finishing the first half of the program, which will focus on residential/commercial electrical, the men will switch over to more advanced training in industrial motor controls, EMCC Workforce Business and Outreach Training Manager Ray Hollis told The Dispatch.
Hollis hopes the program opens up career opportunities for the men when they complete the program.
“No.1, these participants can go through this residential/commercial training and motor control training … and they can go work for contractors,” he said. “Working with general contractors in the area is a great entry point for people who go through this training. It’s a way back in.”
Alternatively, he would be just as happy if the training inspires some of the participants to continue their career technical education.
“Maybe it’s going to intrigue them to come and join one of our career technical programs at EMCC, kind of give them … that feeling of accomplishment,” he said. “That’s what my thought process is – making a way for them to get the actual training to go to work or maybe inspire them to continue on in education here at EMCC.”
The program aligns with The Mission’s goal of equipping the men with the skills they need to go back into society, Bryan said.
“When they do get to that point, they’ll be more qualified to be able to get employment when they leave here,” he said. “Hopefully, they’ll have their lives in such an order that they can not only have some skill, but they’ll also come to work when they’re supposed to.”
Austin Miller, one of the men enrolled in the program, said he is looking forward to the opportunity to develop a trade.
“I already know a good bit about electrical, but now I will be able to get a certificate,” he said in an EMCC press release.
Room to grow
The training program is a part of the SmartTech Mississippi project, which aims to advance the regional manufacturing ecosystem. The project is providing the tools for the program, along with an electrical trainer, which is a learning system with AC/DC circuits, relays and motor controls.
Funding for the project and the equipment comes from a $1 million National Science Foundation Engine Development Award granted to MSU’s Advanced Research and Development Corporation in May 2023 with the purpose of accelerating advanced manufacturing.
“SmartTech Mississippi is excited to be partnering with The Mission and EMCC in an electrical skills development program that could lead participants in one of several future workforce directions,” MSU Vice President of Research and Development Julie Jordan said in the press release.
Hollis hopes to continue to grow the program after the first class, including adding a workforce safety certification course.
“My hope in the future is that we give them enough of the industrial maintenance type classes that they could go into mechanical maintenance programs and electrical maintenance programs at some of these larger facilities,” he said.
Hollis said second-semester students in EMCC’s Construction Engineering Technology program installed framing walls this week that will be used to teach the men how to run wire and install electrical outlets and light switches. He is looking forward to the men seeing their set up, he said.
“The excitement level I see with the individuals I’ve worked with throughout the years when they’re successful on some things, it just ignites it,” he said. “They want to learn more and do more.”
McRae is a general assignment and education reporter for The Dispatch.
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