September 20, 2023

Three Rivers College is stepping up to help displaced workers. College staff outlined these ongoing efforts during the Wednesday board meeting. Will Cooper, division chair of career studies and workforce, explained Revere Plastics shut down this summer, Briggs & Stratton laid off workers and Tyson is closing next month...

Three Rivers College is stepping up to help displaced workers. College staff outlined these ongoing efforts during the Wednesday board meeting.

Will Cooper, division chair of career studies and workforce, explained Revere Plastics shut down this summer, Briggs & Stratton laid off workers and Tyson is closing next month.

“Essentially Leanne Clark, our director of the workforces, is on what’s called a rapid response team, so anytime one of these events happens she’s with a team that pulls resources together and reaches out to these workers that are going to become dislocated,” he explained.

The team sits down with workers to offer financial resources, help finding new jobs, and provision for housing or food emergencies.

He concluded, “Also, they get funding sources that can help them further their education with us, to get the skills they need to work toward.”

Brandi Brooks, director of enrollment services and student development, explained TRC held resource days and job fairs with Revere Plastics employees in May and Briggs & Stratton employees in August. A meeting with Tyson workers was scheduled for Thursday, Sept. 21.

“At the job fair, we’ve seen about 321 people. Of course, we hate to see that loss of income and loss of jobs in all the communities that we serve but I am proud of the fact that TRC is working with all of those employees to hopefully place them, whether it’s in another job or possibly in classes with us,” she said.

Cooper noted many people let go from Revere Plastics and Briggs & Stratton found work in other manufacturing jobs like Mid Continent Steel & Wire or Nestlé.

“So there’s still plenty of manufacturing jobs and regions and a lot of them we just went to work for another manufacturer,” he said.

TRC also explored new ways to help students during Raider Resource Days, Aug. 21-23. Dean of Student Services Ann Matthews said staff got students off to a good start by answering their questions about classes and computer systems. Resources like FCC Behavioral Health also contributed to the event and connected with students.

As Raider Resource Days wrapped up, ACHIEVE held kickoff sessions Aug. 23-Sept. 1.

“We know that they have some barriers, usually within that first week, that ... can be a struggle,” explained ACHIEVE director Davina Bixby.

Sessions tackled those barriers by teaching how to organize a semester schedule, set reasonable goals, cope with stress and understand TRC’s technology platforms.

“While we think Microsoft 365 is easy, they have no idea what it is because they’re coming from Google classrooms,” she noted.

President Dr. Wes Payne reported positive responses to recent events including Run for the Arts and the lecture series “How to Spot a Narcissist.”

“Corey Reynolds, our program director for the behavioral health program, put this (“How to Spot a Narcissist”) on in cooperation with FCC Behavioral Health, and it was a fantastic event. It was very well attended and made a big impact on the community,” he said.

“Then on Sept. 9, we held the eighth annual Run for the Arts. We had more than 70 participants and raised $4,300 for fine arts scholarships. So, 100% of what we raised for this goes in to the endowment fund for student scholarships to ensure that the fine arts will live on in perpetuity,” he added.

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