The Tennessee Department of Labor and Workforce Development, in cooperation with the U.S. Department of Labor, has awarded a $1,080,000 contract to Chattanooga State Community College to provide personnel to oversee and deliver career services to youth, adults, and dislocated workers in Hamilton and four surrounding counties. Funded by the Workforce Innovation and Opportunity Act (WIOA), the contract will be managed by the College’s Division of Economic and Community Development. Currently, staffing will cover American Job Center locations in Eastgate Town Center, Kimball, and Dayton, TN, as well as outreach in Bledsoe and Sequatchie counties for fiscal year 2017-2018.

Chattanooga State’s Executive Director of Economic and Workforce Development, Lulu Copeland said, “From the mid-1990s, Chattanooga State has served as the largest, most comprehensive training provider in the Tennessee Valley, serving more than 300 companies in the past three years alone. As a result, we’re well positioned to provide career services to American Job Center clients.” In 2012, the U.S. Department of Labor provided a grant to establish an Institute for Materials Joining and Testing at Chattanooga State in response to the advanced manufacturing and power producing industries’ needs for more highly skilled welding engineering technicians and materials testing professionals.

Serving a six-county area of southeast Tennessee and bordering counties in north Georgia and Alabama, Chattanooga State has 634 teaching staff providing instruction across seven divisions of study. For more than fifty years, Chattanooga State has provided high-quality education and workforce training in our community, with a 96 percent job placement rate for its graduates.

The College has a long history of and extensive experience in working with area employers, the Workforce Investment Act, WIOA and its workforce programs, as well as experience in project management of similar programs in the region.

By continuing to build on its experience with area employers, the AJC contract will enable Chattanooga State to further promote existing corporate relationships. It will help to provide on-the-job training programs and other opportunities for job seekers, while developing and cultivating new business contacts. Continuance, continuity, and further building of a successful jobs conduit is needed for effective placement of AJC’s clients.

Copeland said, “We’re honored to help provide for the area’s workforce needs through this new role with the American Job Centers.  We want to assist individuals in finding meaningful positions and aid area employers with their training and workforce needs.”