INDIANOLA — Success in today’s economy requires training, and that’s where the Mississippi Delta Community College’s Charles W. Capps Technology Center comes in.
In fact, according to Dru Morgan, the director of workforce education at the center, Leflore County has the highest percentage of employed people trained at the Capps Center since it began operations a decade ago.
“Greenwood/Leflore County has been very aggressive in addressing workforce training challenges in our area,” said Angela Curry, executive director of the Greenwood-Leflore-Carroll Economic Development Foundation.
She said having trained workers is important when businesses and industries examine a community.
“It is important that we provide a trained, educated workforce,” Curry said.
Earlier this month, Morgan and Curry spoke to the Greenwood City Council and the Leflore County Board of Supervisors highlighting the center’s work.
Morgan said the center’s training has helped increase wages for participants by amounts ranging from $1,300 to $9,500 over a year.
In addition, the training helped the employees with job retention. Morgan said 90 percent of those undergoing training were still employed.
“An individual who is upgrading their skills can do a variety of jobs,” she said.
Curry said the center’s work is valuable.
“I am very proud of our residents, as a diverse skill set will not only improve the education level of our community but will also serve to improve the quality of life of the individual,” she said.
Morgan has been the center’s workforce education director since July 2010.
Prior to that, she had served as a project coordinator since 2002.
A skilled workforce makes everyone better, she said.
“It benefits the company; it benefits the individual,” Morgan said.
