If your livelihood has been impacted by a decline in the tobacco industry or you are unemployed, Sampson Community College wants to help. The college is promoting Project Skill-Up, a North Carolina Tobacco Trust Fund Commission program that allocates funding to help individuals in North Carolina adversely impacted by changes in the tobacco related sector of the economy.

Project Skill-Up provides scholarship assistance to individuals to update their current skills and provide them with additional marketable skills reflective of fast-growing occupations and new industries within their local communities.

“Three hundred dollars goes a long way when you’re talking about training that can help you gain new skills in today’s job market,” said Alonza Royal, who manages the project for SCC. “These funds will be used in our workforce development and continuing education areas and will apply to many types of careers we train for, including new ones we will be offering this fall.”

All funds used are for training in programs that lead to certification or licensure.

With the decline in tobacco farming, related industries and shifts in the agriculture industry overall, access to education, occupational skills training and targeted workshops and seminars are essential to economic stimulus and recovery in affected counties. The objective is to provide short-term training programs supporting local workforce needs, develop educational programs supporting diverse utilization of agriculture resources and enterprises and create education opportunities to assist small farmers in accessing new methods to support business sustainability.

James Hartsfield, Sampson County Farm Management agent, supports the program.

“This helps low income farm families to obtain different skills that can help them,” he says. “Whether it’s welding or truck driver training or hair design or anything else they choose, this money can help them.”

For more information about Project Skill-Up, contact Alonza Royal at [email protected].

https://www.clintonnc.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/07/web1_tobacco-logo.jpg

Alonza Royal, who manages Project Skill-Up for Sampson Community College, says it is great way to upgrade skills for the workplace.
https://www.clintonnc.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/07/web1_skillup.jpgAlonza Royal, who manages Project Skill-Up for Sampson Community College, says it is great way to upgrade skills for the workplace. Dan Grubb|SCC
Program aimed at tobacco farmers, unemployed

By Dan Grubb

Sampson Community College