Clarke County DOL grant n Model of success

By By Ken Dupre / guest columnist
Nov. 17, 2003
In less than 10 months, Clarke County has experienced a spectacular turnaround in unemployment due, in large part, to the Department of Labor's National Emergency Grant.
Jones County Junior College in Ellisville used the proceeds of this grant to provide basic skills training, career counseling, computer applications classes and job search assistance to an area devastated by four manufacturing plant closures in a 17-month period.
In January 2003, Clarke County's unemployment rate was 14.7 percent, more than double the Mississippi state unemployment rate of 7.1 percent. In September 2003 (the most recent figures available from the Mississippi Employment Security Commission, Clarke County's jobless rate has been reduced to 5.7 percent, a rate that is now less than the current Mississippi state unemployment rate of 5.8 percent.
This marks the first time since December 1999 that the unemployment rate for Clarke County has been better than the state average.
A brief history
In January 2000, Clarke County enjoyed a robust economy fueled by a strong manufacturing base in textiles and engine electrical equipment. Of the 5,110 jobs within Clarke County, over 50 percent (2,600) were classified as manufacturing jobs.
By December 2000, those jobs starting disappearing. In that month, A&B Component Parts, a manufacturer of electrical wiring harnesses for General Motors, shut down a plant in Shubuta, resulting in the loss of 347 jobs.
In March 2001, a mere three months later, Quitman Knitting Mills laid off 474 workers from a Quitman plant. A decade earlier, that same plant employed close to 800 textile workers. In April 2002, Clarke County's largest employer, Burlington Industries, closed its plants, leaving over 900 employees, many of them second- and third-generation mill workers, out of a job. The following month (May 2002), Wells-Lamont shut down its sewing plant just south of Clarke County (in neighboring Wayne County), leaving 115 more workers out of jobs.
In a period of 17 months, over 1,800 manufacturing jobs were gone. Clarke County's unemployment rate had reached a whopping 19.3 percent in April, the highest unemployment rate in the state of Mississippi.
Today, nearly 80 percent of Clarke County's manufacturing jobs have disappeared. As of December 2002, the number of manufacturing jobs remaining had dropped to 530. According to a former Human Resource Manager for one of the textile mills, that may be the lowest number of total manufacturing jobs in Clarke County since the Stonewall Cotton Mill opened its plant in 1868.
Bouncing back
On August 20, 2002, U.S. Rep. Chip Pickering announced that the U.S. Department of Labor had approved a $3,288,733 National Emergency Grant to provide re-employment services to displaced workers in Clarke, Jasper, Lauderdale, Wayne and Jones Counties of Mississippi and Choctaw County in Alabama. The Mississippi Development Authority, as administrator of this grant, then awarded the subcontract for the training and education to Jones County Junior College.
In January 2003, Jones County Junior College began a comprehensive training, education and counseling program for displaced workers in Clarke and surrounding counties. From the proceeds of the grant, Jones County Junior College was able to hire 10 people to focus on helping these displaced workers.
The first challenge faced was finding the displaced workers. Because of privacy concerns, Jones County Junior College was not given the names of the employees who were laid off from Burlington Industries. A&B also did not initially provide the junior college with their list of displaced employees, but later relinquished their list in September, 2003. Also, because of the time that had elapsed between the plant closures and the opening of the training center, the addresses and phone numbers of the displaced workers had changed.
Through the relentless detective work of the Peer Support Workers (who, themselves, were displaced from Burlington and Quitman Knitting Mills), Jones County Junior College was able to build files on 1,809 displaced workers. Of these displaced workers, 746 are now back to work.
As of October 2003, Jones County Junior College has provided the following services to displaced workers covered under the National Emergency Grant:
Adult Education Classes, 89 NEG enrollees;
Computer Classes 372 completed with certificates;
Comprehensive Welding Class, 8 completed with certificates, 12 currently enrolled;
Job Skills Workshops, 71 completed with certificates;
Career Counseling, 453 full assessments with completed IETPs;
Entrepreneurship Training, 14 currently enrolled;
Certified Nurse Aid Training, 12 currently enrolled.
In their own words
Here are a few comments made by some of the dislocated workers who have used the Jones County Junior College training to better themselves: