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In 2018, ATN started its participation in the ARC POWER Initiative Grant: STRONG Initiative Program for the Alabama Community College System (ACCS). STRONG is Skills Training that provides Real Opportunities for New job Growth. Due to the COVID pandemic, the grant was extended to July 2022.
The project target areas for the training were conducted in the "coal impacted communities" in ten ARC counties in Alabama: Fayette, Walker, Pickens, Bibb, Hale, Tuscaloosa, Jefferson, Chilton, St. Clair, and Blount. The primary intended outcomes and benefits of the training for the employees/participants were indicated by one of the following:
• enabled the employee to be retained in his/her current position
• resulted in the employee receiving additional responsibilities within the company
• qualified the employee for consideration for promotion
• resulted in an increase in pay for the employee.
For the ARC Power STRONG grant, ATN established the following guidelines for its manufacturing clients:
• an employee was eligible for one 8-hour class or combination equal to 8-hours at no cost.
• each class minimum size was 15; and
• the class must be held in one of the ten counties.
Most of the classes were conducted on-site for manufacturers, and a few were offered as workshops or open enrollments to accommodate multiple companies. The top three classes conducted most often were: #1-Root Cause Analysis & Problem Solving; #2-Lean 101 /Lean Office; and #3-Root Cause Failure Analysis & Problem Solving for Maintenance.
ATN increased workforce skills by training 636 participants, 33 manufacturers in 9 of the ten counties, and a total of 41 classes. This yielded an estimated investment in workforce practices/ employee skills over $200,000. Additionally, the average customer satisfaction rate was 4.6 on a scale 1 (poor) to 5 (very satisfied) for all the classes.
Overall, the grant provided the opportunity for some much-needed training for the workforce throughout the region.
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