The need for more skilled workers in the region has sparked a new initiative in the county aimed to help businesses address shortages in the area's workforce.

The initiative involves a partnership between the Wilmington Chamber of Commerce, New Hanover County and Cape Fear Community College, according to county officials.

As part of that initiative, the Wilmington Chamber of Commerce will soon send out a survey that aims to find out where regional employers have seen the gaps in their workforce, with a goal to later develop apprenticeship programs to address the skill sets and needs of the private sector.

John Downing, customized training and workforce development director for CFCC, said he worked for 14 years with the N.C. Department of Labor Apprenticeship and Training Program, now housed in the community college system, and spent that time setting up training and apprenticeship programs across the Triad and other parts of the state.

Now with CFCC, he is going to be part of the effort to find out what the companies need here.

“Companies are complaining about a shortage, but they’re not specific,” Downing said.“You've got to work with the employers to make sure you are setting up a training program that they want and will put people to work."

Over the years, he said, he's heard companies complain about the need for more skilled workers 

Beth Schrader, chief strategy and budget officer for the county, said this is part of the county’s new five-year strategic plan that, in part, has a focus on increasing the diversity and number of higher paying jobs and supporting the employment base for those jobs.

Officials are seeking to work with those in the private sector to help identify target business sectors and skills gaps that have “immediate and near-term workforce needs that might be well served by a Federally Registered Apprenticeship Program,” Schrader said.

“Historically, apprenticeship programs have been more common in the building trades but are increasingly being used to develop a highly-skilled workforce in advanced manufacturing and knowledge worker industries,” Schrader said in an email.

“The county’s Federally Registered Apprenticeship Program will be based on a proven U.S. Department of Labor program and will include business involvement, structured on-the job training, related instruction/curriculum from a community college, rewards to workers for skill gains, and a nationally-recognized credential that ensures apprentices are fully qualified," she added.

The county aims to support the program through policy initiatives, staffing or potential future funding, Schrader said, adding that the county has not made any decisions on that support since the program has not gone before the county's board of commissioners.

"However, they are fully aware of this collaboration and the potential of an apprenticeship program," Schrader added. 

CFCC's role in the partnership is to develop the survey and later help with a supported curriculum that can tie into business-supported apprenticeships identified through the needs of the survey, according to Downing.

"It's a fact-finding mission to ask employers in the area where the labor shortages are," Downing said of the survey. "We have some experience working with some of the apprenticeship programs already established in the area. So it's a good fit for the college."

CFCC has already been working on similar initiatives for the construction sectors, such as its basic carpentry classes, electrical apprenticeship program, and a power lineman boot camp currently under development.

The lineman boot camp is a 10-week course that will be registered as a pre-apprenticeship, which can be used to go into full apprenticeship programs with large utility companies such as Duke Energy, Downing said. He said the college is hiring instructors for the program and has yet to announce a start date. The course concentrates on safety, pole climbing, flagger safety training and driving.

"In North Carolina, companies need a minimum of 1,400 electrical linemen in the state for the next five years," Downing said of the shortage in that sector.

The college has also been responding to demands in the construction sector, he said.

"These construction-based companies told us what they were interested in. And we listened, and we're putting programs out there to meet their needs."

Downing said the survey will help identify additional needs that could support more apprenticeship programs, he said. 

"Apprenticeship has been around a long time, and it's a time-honored tradition to develop people to carry on skills, and I think we're just trying to do our part," Downing said. "The initiative that we are pursuing, we are hopeful will fit the niche in this area and help us be a regional draw ... for folks that want good employment and good skills."

According to Wilmington Chamber of Commerce officials, the partnership ties into the chamber's strategic plan, which includes an emphasis on developing talent. The chamber is encouraging business owners to complete the survey, which officials said will directly contribute to expanding the regional workforce.

Chamber officials have not yet announced when the new survey will be sent to employers.

"Apprenticeship in business is becoming the norm," chamber board chairman John Gizdic said at its annual meeting last week. "And we want that program to be well-formed and very successful."