Southeastern Community College: Catalyzing Economic Development in Rural North Carolina.

Virginia's Southeastern Community College (SCC) examined its service area and performance in the late 1980s and found that its enrollments had dropped while area unemployment rates were rising. Local officials estimated that nearly 2,000 manufacturing jobs had been lost in the service area--Columbus County--since the passage of the North American Free Trade Agreement. The County was also contending with low rates of high school graduation and college attendance and a high level of poverty among minority populations. To combat the region's economic decline, SCC: (1) hired a new president; (2) created, in partnership with local social services and employment offices, the One Stop JobLink Career Center; (3) developed the Small Business Center; and (4) opened the Business and Industry Skills Training Center. The College also established an employee exchange program, sending a team of Columbus County manufacturing workers to France to receive training at a Conflandey plant. At the same time, several Conflandey employees came to Columbus County and received training at SCC. Conflandey's first tonnage was manufactured out of temporary facilities on SCC's campus. Conflandey is just 1 of SCC's successful industrial recruitment strategies, all of which have resulted in 200 new jobs for the county. (NB)