Co-Lin awarded funding for special projects

Over the past 12 months, the state of Mississippi has aggressively invested in high-demand, high-wage training programs to better meet the industry needs of today and provide more good pathways for Mississippians to find higher-paying careers. This investment, made possible through the continued support and investment of executive and legislative leadership and an overhaul of the state’s Workforce Enhancement Training fund program, will result in an increase in annual training capacity of over 5,000 individuals across five priority training sectors.
In partnership with Mississippi’s 15 community colleges, K-12 schools, and institutions of higher learning, AccelerateMS worked to target programs aligned with training deficiencies across Mississippi’s eight distinct ecosystems that meet the needs of business and industry with quality opportunities for individuals.
New workforce programs have been developed in areas such as advanced manufacturing and fiber splicing for broadband roll-out. Existing capacity in programs such as nursing, diesel technology, CDL, and utility linework have all been increased to meet the growing and immediate market demand.
“Enhancing the human capital infrastructure in Mississippi is vital to our ability to prepare workers for the increasingly complex jobs available to them,” said Dr. Courtney Taylor, deputy director for postsecondary strategy. “Over the last year, we have been fortunate to support numerous quality programs with our partners throughout the state who are doing the heavy lifting of preparing Mississippians for better careers.”
Copiah-Lincoln Community College has been awarded funding for the following special projects: lineworker, $448,332.08; fiber splicer training, $338,002.90; industrial welding, $346,000; process control systems for automation and control, $168,648.11; CDL expansion at Simpson and Wesson campuses, $480,000; and construction equipment operations, $270,544.46.