CCSN touts success of new workforce division

Friday, March 18, 2005 | 10:13 a.m.

Community College of Southern Nevada President Richard Carpenter shared his sales pitch for the college's new Division of Workforce and Economic Development Thursday with about 300 members of the Nevada Development Authority.

The speech was designed to expose local "movers and shakers" to the training the college offers, Somer Hollingsworth, president and chief executive officer of the NDA, said.

"I think they are the best kept secret in the state," Hollingsworth said.

CCSN has already trained thousands of workers for NDA clients, Hollingsworth said, and the new division will be able to offer even more.

Carpenter finalized the structure for the 10-section division a few weeks ago, reassigning former members of the college's extended programs team to specific industries or community needs. The division will offer customized training courses addressing the specific skills needed of a company's workforce, Carpenter said.

His goal is to "under-promise and over-deliver" on every contract so that companies keep coming back, Carpenter said.

"We want every contract we enter into to wow our customer," said Carpenter, who developed similar workforce programs in Wisconsin, Alabama and Kentucky.

Carpenter's so-called "twelve disciples" will cover the gamut of all possible training or educational needs, including hospitality and gaming; business assessment and consulting; American Heart Association Community Training Center and workplace safety; healthcare and emergency services; education and government; transportation, manufacturing and construction; retail services, banking and finance; adult literacy and language; apprenticeships and prisons; and community and personal enrichment.

The American Heart Association section is a new designation that allows college officials to train workers and community members in cardiac resuscitation, including the use of defibrillators, Carpenter said.

The center is also the only site offering federal Occupational Safety and Health Administration training in Southern Nevada, a designation the college also earned in recent months, Carpenter said. Previously, local businesses had to travel to San Diego for the courses.

Other major contracts the division has already secured include worker assessment and training for the Bellagio, Sierra Health Services and the city of Henderson, Carpenter said. Each section within the division must be self-sufficient.

Carpenter announced the new division back in January, following a major overhaul of the college's extended programs division. Only in the president's position since August 2004, Carpenter laid off several administrators and axed the truck driving program to get rid of inefficiencies. He said he subsequently plans to evaluate and restructure every area of the college as needed and as time allows.

The college is doing a national search for a new dean for the division, Carpenter said, but it's currently led by director Debra Solt.

In the next year, Carpenter said he'll be speaking at several more community and businesses meetings to get the word out about the new workforce and economic development addition.

Hollingsworth said the programs offered by CCSN and Nevada's other higher education institutions are essential to the Nevada Development Authority in being able to recruit new businesses to the state.

"Economic diversification can't work without the university system ... and the university system can't do economic diversification without us," Hollingsworth said. "It's a partnership."