The Eastern Kentucky Concentrated Employment Program, Inc. (EKCEP) has received a national award for its success in helping address the workforce needs of eastern Kentucky’s coal industry.

EKCEP’s Coal Services Program was the nationwide winner of the U.S. Department of Labor’s Recognition of Excellence Award for “Leveraging the Power of e3 Partnerships.” The award recognizes the value of projects that demonstrate sustained collaborations among employers, educators, and economic development.

EKCEP—a workforce development agency based in Hazard—was one of only five organizations from across the nation to receive Recognition of Excellence Awards this year. Winners in the other four categories were from Hartford, CT; Alpena, MI; Arlington, VA; and La Crosse, WI.

EKCEP Executive Director Mable Duke accepted the award from William A. Sanders Jr., director of Workforce Innovations for the Department of Labor’s Employment and Training Administration, at the 2007 Workforce Innovations Conference held in July in Kansas City, MO.

The conference brought together more than 3,500 state and local government officials, private sector representatives, workforce and economic development officials, and educators to exchange information and innovative ideas about workforce development issues.

“EKCEP is dedicated to helping the state’s largest industry address its workforce needs both today and for the future,” Duke said. “This award is proof positive that workforce development can be extremely relevant and responsive to private business and industry by helping find jobs for people, and people for jobs.

“This award also shows that workforce, education, and economic development can work together to develop and implement real-world solutions to employers’ needs,” Duke added.

Emily Stover DeRocco, assistant secretary of Labor for Employment and Training, complimented EKCEP and the other award winners on their successes.

"Our honorees have shown that they are innovative leaders in providing workers with the opportunities and tools to help them compete in today's global economy," DeRocco said. "Their outstanding work serves as a model for others to learn from and apply to their own regional economic and talent development strategies."

EKCEP’s award-winning Coal Services Program employs a variety of services that address the needs of both sides of the workforce equation—employers and job seekers. Those services include critical training for new miners entering the industry and for working miners who need skills upgrades to increase their mines’ productivity. These collaborative, hands-on training efforts are provided on site at various eastern Kentucky mining operations, as well as at Kentucky Community and Technical College System (KCTCS) locations.

“The mining industry told us they wanted a training program that was short-term, on-site, and relevant to today,” according to Crawford Blakeman, EKCEP Business Solutions manager. “They wanted that training program to accommodate working schedules over a large geographic area, serve the needs of today’s miners, and attract future workers to the industry.”

One of the key features of the Coal Services Program is the state-of-the-art Success Xpress mobile miner training unit. Designed and implemented by EKCEP, the Success Xpress is a 53-foot truck trailer outfitted with a high-tech classroom featuring a computerized three-dimensional mining simulator and a hands-on lab area that features electrical training panels exactly like those on actual mining equipment.

The Success Xpress was featured in a video presentation shown during the awards ceremony at the conference. The video—filmed by USDOL on-location in Perry County in early June—included comments from Duke and Blakeman on how EKCEP’s philosophy of responsiveness to the needs of business and the ways the successful partnerships were developed in eastern Kentucky. (To download and view USDOL's QuickTime video on EKCEP's Coal Services Program, right click this link, and select "Save Target As." To download a free version of QuickTime in order to view the video, click here.)

The video also featured footage of coal miners from the James River Coal Company’s Leeco mine using the high-tech mining simulators aboard the Success Xpress. Elmer Howard, assistant general manager with Excel Mining, and coal miners Erick Wright and Brandon Neal delivered testimonials on how they have benefited from EKCEP’s Coal Services Program.

Since December, Success Xpress has trained working miners and students in Clay, Harlan, Knott, Knox, Laurel, Lawrence, Letcher, Martin, Perry, and Pike counties. Success Xpress makes the best possible training and instruction accessible at any location in EKCEP’s 23-county service area, Blakeman said.

“Being able to present this training in such a mobile way allows workers to train for advancement more efficiently with much less impact on company productivity,” he said.

“All of our partners share in the excellence and success this award represents, because EKCEP’s Coal Services Program could not do what it does without a strong commitment to collaboration,” Duke said. “When EKCEP wins, we all win.”

The partners honored as a part of EKCEP’s Coal Services Program include: the Kentucky Community and Technical College System (KCTCS), the Center for Rural Development, the Kentucky Coal Academy, the Kentucky Junior Coal Academy, Excel Mining, International Coal Group (ICG), Coal Operators and Associates, James River Coal Service Company, and the Kentucky Office of Mine Safety and Licensing.

Success Xpress was created with a portion of EKCEP’s share of a $3.1 million federal grant from the U.S. Department of Labor. The grant was awarded to EKCEP and the West Kentucky Workforce Investment Board (WKWIB) in December 2005 to train new miners and upgrade the skills of experienced miners in the state’s eastern and western coalfields. The grant was awarded under the President’s High Growth Job Training Initiative, as implemented by the Department of Labor’s Employment and Training Administration.

For additional information on EKCEP's Coal Services Program, or booking the Success Xpress for a visit to a mining operation, high school, vocational and technical school, or any other location, contact Crawford Blakeman at 606-436-5751.