Inaugural Industry Appreciation Luncheon Touts Regionalism

SCOOBA —  East Mississippi Community College inaugurated a new tradition Tuesday at its Scooba campus with the 1st Annual Industry Appreciation Luncheon.

The Montgomery Institute of Meridian received East Mississippi Community College’s Director’s Award at the 1st Annual Industry Appreciation Luncheon. Pictured from left are EMCC President Emeritus Dr. Tommy Davis, a senior fellow at TMI, TMI President Bill Crawford, EMCC Vice President Dr. Raj Shaunak and TMI Vice President Ken Dupré.

“The sun is rising in Kemper County and East Mississippi,” Dr. Raj Shaunak, vice president of EMCC’s Workforce Services Division, told the crowd of business leaders and elected officials gathered at Keyes Currie Coliseum. “But it will take all of us working together to take advantage of these opportunities. We at EMCC are committed to that future, and I know everyone in this room shares that commitment.”

EMCC awarded its top award, the Director’s Award, to The Montgomery Institute of Meridian “for outstanding leadership in building regional coalition for community development and economic enhancement.”

Best known for successfully competing for a bi-state, regional WIRED grant through the U.S. Department of Labor, The Montgomery Institute is currently working on two new initiatives. The first is a $4.5 million grant through the Department of Labor to provide training and access to employment in health care to low-wage and unemployed people in East Mississippi. The second is a $400,000 “America Works” grant from the Walmart Foundation to provide basic manufacturing skills training for unemployed people.

The keynote speaker for the event was John Atherton, Mississippi Power Company Vice President for External Affairs. Mississippi Power has begun construction of a $2.5 billion power plant in Kemper County.

“In December 2006, we first met with the Kemper County Board of Supervisors,” Atherton said. “One of those supervisors, James Granger, asked me, ‘Can you guarantee that our folks are going to go to work in this plant?’ We couldn’t guarantee it, but we can create the opportunities that will allow them to compete.”

Key to creating those opportunities, Atherton said, is education. Mississippi Power is providing two college scholarships a year to Kemper County high school graduates who want to pursue a career in the energy industry. The company is underwriting EMCC’s tuition guarantee program for students from Noxubee, Kemper and rural Lauderdale County. EMCC will partner with Mississippi Gulf Coast Community College to provide workers with the skills they will need to work at the high-tech plant.

Finally, EMCC has expanded workforce classes at its Scooba campus with an eye toward the area’s growth.  In addition to academic and career-technical courses, EMCC now offers workforce classes in career readiness, basic manufacturing skills, construction skills, welding, certified nurse assistant and entrepreneurship.

Other awards provided to community leaders included a Special Recognition Award to the Kemper County Economic Development Authority and its director, Brian Henson, “for outstanding leadership with superior results in community and economic development” and a Best Practices Award for Electric Mills Wood Preserving of Scooba “for providing outstanding examples of workforce training, quality management and business practices that serve as models for others.”