Nevada County Picayune and Gurdon Times Newspaper Archive

Stokes Tells Plans Of Technical Learning Center

Clark County's new Southwest Arkansas Technical Learning Center has a goal of improving the workforce in the area.

Tim Stokes, center director, told the Gurdon Rotary Club what the plans are for the center.

He said existing industry had been contacted to see what it most needed, and the center will also be a magnet for attracting new industry, once the open jobs with existing industry have been filled.

There are three areas the center is focusing on in its training. The first is a pre-employment certificate program.

This program, Stokes said, is for all industry in Clark County. The curriculum was developed based on information gathered showing common problems with all industry.

Clients are given a basic ACT test assessment to see where they fit in specific areas of education.

Those with deficiencies are schooled to improve their scores to industry standards. When they meet the program requirements, they are presented a certificate and sent out on interviews.

The industries are also provided copies of the scores.

Clients go through computer assisted instruction as well as regular classes to get the skills they need in order to work at area industries

"A lot of people don't have the basic skills to get a job," Stokes said.

The second area is existing workforce training.

Stokes said clients in this course go through program logic control. This is a three-day seminar created with the help of an industrial consortium so those successfully completing it will meet the needs industry has in its employees.

Third is an emerging workforce training program.

Stokes said this program literally goes into high schools to help get those students not going to college trained for area industrial jobs.

This is done in cooperation with the high schools and is aligned with industry needs.

Students are asked to do a four-year plan as a sophomore, then sign a career major in their junior year in whatever area interests them.

The idea, he said, is to create a consortium of schools much like has been done with industry.

One of the biggest needs locally, he told the club members, is in the field of micro computer systems, pre-engineering, architecture, allied health and industrial technology.

He pointed out the engineering and architecture skills needed don't require four-year degrees, but need people who can learn to use a computer aided drafting, or CAD, program.

The idea, he said, is to develop a progressive curriculum at the high school level, which will build on itself.

Those completing the program will be given certificates and will have better chances than others of getting jobs right out of high school.

Stokes said 80 percent of industrial jobs don't require a college education, but do need some training.

The emerging workforce program, he said, takes four semesters to complete and is done during the junior and senior years of high school. But, Stokes added, this program isn't for everyone.

It will, however, have an impact on the community, he said, when it comes to attracting new industrial prospects.

The center will be located in Arkadelphia, but, he said, a satellite center will be considered in the Gurdon area for the technical program.

Right now, Stokes said, one of the biggest problems the county has is its low unemployment rate, while another is a pool of unskilled labor.

"Industry is at the point it needs more people," he said, "and a pool of applicants. Labor costs are up."

According to Stokes, the different industries have been doing what they can to train people, but this has resulted in several industries doing a number of different things.

With the center operational, he said, it pulls everything together with a common goal and strategic plan.

"We need to do things differently in workforce development than we've done in the past."

Stokes has been in touch with State Sen. Jodi Mahoney of El Dorado, on working with the Arkansas Department of Education for the emerging workforce program.

Block schedules, he said, work well with this program as it gives students more hands-on time with their career choices.

One of the benefits to school districts offering such programs, he said, is the state pays an additional $4,000 per student involved.

It's best to get the students involved while they're in high school and the money is available, because, he said, once they graduate the state won't help pick up the tab.