Here is the article:

Published: Friday, August 28, 2009 at 8:18 a.m.

The best stimulus plan is one that gets people back to work quickly.
Money from the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act will allow the
Cape Fear region’s two community colleges to do precisely that.

Cape Fear Community College and Brunswick Community College got
$500,000 between them to enhance job training programs that can be
completed in six months or less. Some of those programs will train
people for entry-level jobs, but others have the potential for good
earnings or could be just the first step along the path to a
higher-paying job.

We need both types.

Although retail and
food service jobs historically pay low wages, our service-dependent
economy needs people with the skills to interact with customers
professionally. With the right training and good performance,
entry-level jobs can lead to better opportunities. Such jobs are ideal
for people who have few skills or who are new to the job market, but
the stimulus also is designed to help retrain people who have been laid
off.

The key is to train people for the jobs that are available.
Even in a recession such as this one, there are fields that are almost
always hiring.

Programs such as truck driver training, carpentry,
computer repair and even a nurses aide program can lead to
opportunities with the right combination of experience and continuing
education. Entry-level truck drivers who graduate from CFCC’s program
can make $32,000 to $34,0000; get a little experience under your belt
and it’s possible to make $50,000 or more.

The truck driver
program and others are already successful. The stimulus money is
opening them to more people. The nursing assistant program at CFCC has
a continual waiting list. That’s partly because demand is so high.
Spokesman David Hardin says the $300,000 grant the college received
will help cut down on that waiting list.

Training provided by our
colleges is important not only as a recession fighter, but to meet the
changing needs of businesses as they struggle to remain competitive in
the global economy.

It’s always difficult to know whether to take
the economists’ predictions seriously, because it seems that one week
they see recovery and the next, a slowdown. But so far there are signs
that we’re starting to climb out of the valley, even though jobs may
not recover as quickly.

Our community colleges will play a vital
role in helping workers adjust to a rapidly changing labor market.
Established as a way to train workers for the jobs that local
businesses need to fill, North Carolina’s two-year college system is
among our best hopes for keeping people employed. Over the years, they
also have stressed college transfer programs, but their most important
contribution is and always has been to put people to work.

Now that’s a stimulus program.

Here is a link to the actual article if you want o leave comments.

http://www.starnewsonline.com/article/20090828/ARTICLES/908289995?Title=Stimulus-money-well-spent-at-community-colleges