By Chris Berendt

Staff Writer

While the extent to which the upcoming Base Realignment and Closure (BRAC) will be felt locally remains to be seen, many measures are being taken to optimize that impact for surrounding counties, including Sampson.

The BRAC Regional Task Force has launched PipelineNC.com, an education and workforce Internet platform for both job seekers and employers in the Fort Bragg region. The website represents the culmination of a U.S. Department of Labor Workforce Demonstration Program Grant awarded to the BRAC RTF in 2007, in an effort to facilitate employment and economic growth for the region with projected growth at Fort Bragg.

Even as that has been developed, there is still talk among the Sampson County Board of Commissioners of the possible establisment of a local Sampson County BRAC commission. The commission could be utilized to better identify and localize BRAC’s impact and come up with initiatives — business and industry recruitment, job searches — for Sampson through discussion between many in the community from varying backgrounds, county officials said.

According to statistics provided by John Swope, executive director of the Sampson County Economic Development Commission, an estimated 15,000 jobs will be created by 2013 as a result of the U.S. Army Forces Command and U.S. Army Reserve Command relocating from Fort McPherson, Ga., to Bragg. With thousands of people displaced from jobs in the 11 counties surrounding Fort Bragg, PipelineNC.com was developed to meet those needs.

Those needs are just as evident in Sampson County as in any other. Local manufacturing jobs have been lost by the hundreds in the last decade, but they are not the only types of jobs going by the wayside in the county.

There have been 1,225 jobs lost in Sampson since 2000, according to Swope. Those lost jobs were reported to the Sampson County Employment Security Commission and include 896 manufacturing jobs, or 73 percent of all jobs.

The labor force in Sampson County was at 28,831 in 2000. Last year, it stood at 31,548, growth of nearly 10 percent. However, the growth in the labor force was accompanied by a similar rise in unemployment. There were 1,022 unemployed in 2000 (3.5 percent) and 2,737 in 2009 (9.7 percent), representing an unemployment number that nearly tripled over 10 years.

BRAC RTF officials said PipelineNC.com has been established to head off those unemployment numbers.

The “employment platform” offers opportunities to job seekers and students. Employers can post jobs and utilize an automated recruiting process, send digital postcards or sponsor an industry-specific page. In turn, job seekers can define career paths, research higher learning opportunities in the region and search for employment.

Paul Dordal, BRAC RTF executive director, stated that PipelineNC.com “goes beyond what we initially wanted to deliver to the 11 counties in the way of workforce development and employment.” The 11 counties represented, including Sampson, are those in the BRAC radius anticipated to be in the affected range of the base realignment.

Swope said, along with a sizable amount of people, around 40,000, expected to come into the region, there will be income, companies and other operations following them. What trickle-down effect their move might bring to Sampson will not begin to be felt until later this year, when the initial contingent arrives at the new $90 million base headquarters in Fayetteville.

Last week, Sampson County commissioner Billy Lockamy again expressed interest in establishing a local BRAC commission, and asked commissioner John Blanton if such a group was going to be organized. Blanton, who is part of the BRAC RTF, expressed his intention to head up such a group last year. He said last week he was in a position to follow through on his initial recruitment of participants.

“I have a lot of people calling ... key people who want to participate,” said Blanton. “I just want to make sure that’s really where we want to go.”

He said it is not known how much of the influx of people, businesses and jobs will reach Sampson, but preparation was vital.

“We don’t know if there’s going to be an overflow,” Blanton remarked. “They’re going to be coming in waves. Fayetteville will not be the only place. We hope they go to the 11 other counties. There will be warehouses and other operations (being recruited) to other counties. That’s what were trying to do.”

Chris Berendt can be reached at 910-592-8137, ext. 121, or by email at sicrime@myclintonnc.com.