The Golden LEAF Foundation Board recently adopted a long-term strategic plan to serve as a roadmap for the next few years. During the process, Golden LEAF fine-tuned its priority areas and created goals for each of these areas. Golden LEAF’s five strategic priority areas are:
- Job Creation and Economic Investment
- Workforce Preparedness
- Agriculture
- Community Competitiveness, Capacity, and Vitality
- Organizational Excellence
The mission of Golden LEAF is to increase economic opportunity in North Carolina’s rural, economically distressed, and tobacco-dependent communities. Golden LEAF seeks to improve workforce preparedness in communities by increasing the number of qualified individuals with skills aligned with current and future needs of local business and industry. Golden LEAF invests in projects that prepare students with the technical and life skills necessary to enter work.
Some of the ways Golden LEAF measures the success of a workforce preparedness program is through tracking the number of students who complete courses, earn third party credentials, and participate in work-based learning. Other outcomes of workforce preparedness projects include students employed, incumbent workers trained, and employer satisfaction with trained students.
Learn about some of the workforce preparedness projects support by Golden LEAF in Nash, Halifax, Craven, Harnett, and Catawba counties below:
Nash Community College Advanced Manufacturing Center
Nash Community College has opened a new state-of-the-art Advanced Manufacturing facility to help address growing industry demand in the area.
Halifax Community College Community Education Centers
To address transportation as a barrier to access training, Halifax Community College and approximately 30 partners in Halifax County are working to address workforce shortfalls by establishing Community Education Centers located throughout the county.
Craven Community College Volt Center
The City of New Bern, Craven Community College, Craven County, and local businesses collaborated to renovate a vacant energy plant and warehouse in an underserved community with high unemployment to become a flexible and adaptive environment for multiple workforce training programs.
Harnett County Schools Advanced Manufacturing, Health Sciences academies
The Golden LEAF Board awarded funds to Harnett County Schools to support expansion of the two academies to support career awareness and help train a future workforce through renovating and expanding classrooms as well as adding equipment and resources
Catawba Valley Community College Furniture Academy
Since the program began, 100 percent of CVCC graduates have been gainfully employed in the furniture industry. The Golden LEAF Board awarded funds for equipment to help expand the training capacity to meet the demand from furniture manufacturers in the area.