NIC program helping workforce

POST FALLS — While a slumping economy drives students through the doors of community college credit programs, economic downturns typically have the opposite effect on noncredit programs that involve workforce training.

“Non-credit programs tend to be on the other end of the teeter-totter when it comes to the economy,” said North Idaho College Workforce Training Center Executive Director Robert Ketchum. “But while we may not be seeing the extraordinarily high influx of enrollments that the college’s for-credit programs are seeing, the NIC Workforce Training Center is still a major contributor to the economic recovery of our region.”

According to Ketchum, the NIC Workforce Training Center saw an 8.9 percent jump in enrollment in fiscal year 2008 because of the wide variety of offerings and an emphasis on workforce development, which was the largest segment of growth.

Workforce development programs are generally short term and new classes start weekly throughout the year. Many of the programs, such as the Certified Nursing Assistant program, work in cooperation with NIC’s credit side so that completers can enter the workforce or enroll at NIC in the associate’s degree or certificate programs.

“The growth of noncredit workforce development course enrollments can be traced to the economic downturn, as individuals look for short-term classes that can increase their skills to become more competitive in the job market or to retrain for a new career,” said Workforce Development Director Marie Price. “Not-for-credit and for-credit divisions at North Idaho College will continue to work together to improve career pathway opportunities for individuals in our community.”

NIC’s Qualified Worker Retraining Program, located at the Workforce Training Center, is federally funded through the Workforce Investment Act. It is focused on helping those who are unemployed gain skills that will enable them to obtain full-time employment after training at any authorized provider.

The program assisted more than 60 people in the 2008 fiscal year, which ended June 30. Additionally, NIC Qualified Worker Retraining Program Director Judy Boyce said that she has tracked more than 250 phone inquiries about financial assistance and job search assistance since January.

“We are assisting more people now than we ever have,” Boyce said.

Through the Qualified Worker Retraining Program, NIC was the first community college in the state to receive economic stimulus funding.

A total of $78,000 in additional funding was made available last May to provide training assistance to low-income individuals seeking full-time employment.

The Qualified Worker Retraining Program changed Meredith Dunlow’s life. A mother of five, Dunlow had worked in various jobs and even owned her own business for awhile to accommodate raising her children. She moved to North Idaho with her husband who was seeking better employment, only to be laid off soon after leaving her family with no full-time source of income.

She enrolled at NIC in January 2002 through the Qualified Worker Retraining Program, which offered her assistance on tuition, books and even gas. She received a degree in nursing in 2006 and currently works at Valley Hospital in Spokane as a nurse and night supervisor. She is also a Master Certified Hypnotherapist and has coauthored a book about the importance of preparing personal affairs before death.

“The program opened the most incredible avenues for me to be able to help people,” Dunlow said. “Not only did the program provide for me financially, it provided a personal growth and development that may not have been possible on my own.”

While the Qualified Worker Retraining Program is helping the unemployed and underemployed now, Ketchum believes NIC’s Customized Training program will play a valuable role in meeting the region’s workforce needs when the economy begins to turn around. By offering on-the-job-training opportunities, employers benefit by being able to teach employees what they need to learn in the most convenient of locations—on the job.

“Current economic conditions actually give employers an excellent window of opportunity for training employees,” said NIC Customized Training Director Sherry Wallis. “During slower periods of time, you can cross-train existing employees and prepare for new employees in the future by implementing structured on-the-job training.

“The shortage of qualified, skilled workers, which we experienced just a short time ago, will return to our region and throughout the nation as the economy recovers. Companies that invest in their employees now will most likely experience a stronger recovery.”

NIC’s Idaho Small Business Development Center is playing one of the most active roles in affecting the local economy by helping businesses not only survive the downturn, but thrive in the current economic climate.

Through free business coaching and training, the Idaho Small Business Development Center helped clients increase business revenue by $7.6 million, creating 88 new jobs and saving an additional 25 in the first half of 2009. The Idaho Small Business Development Center provided coaching assistance to more than 200 businesses so far this year, up from 151 in all of 2008.

“Creating new jobs and saving existing ones means people can support their families,” said Bill Jhung, Idaho Small Business Development Center regional director. “When people have jobs, they engage in their community and that helps not only our community, but our entire nation.”