The Eastern Kentucky Concentrated Employment Program, Inc. (EKCEP) is starting the new year with an extra $400,000 to spend on workforce services for employers in eastern Kentucky.

Gov. Ernie Fletcher traveled to Hazard to present the funds to EKCEP at a ceremony attended by over 100 employers, employees, state and local officials, and workforce representatives on Dec. 14. The money comes from the governor’s statewide reserve of Workforce Investment Act (WIA) funds.

EKCEP will use the funds to help employers train both newly hired and incumbent workers in a variety of ways, including on-the-job training, classroom training, and customized training. EKCEP had requested the additional funds to meet increasing demands for workforce training from the region's employers, especially in the coal and natural gas industries.

“Those dollars will multiply multiple times because of the (workers trained in EKCEP-administered and funded programs) who participate in making this a more productive community, and making these 23 counties that you serve have better opportunities for people to better their way of life,” Fletcher said at the event, which was held at the Technical Campus of Hazard Community and Technical College. After the presentation ceremony, Fletcher toured the “Success Xpress,” EKCEP’s new state-of-the-art mobile training facility built into a 53-foot truck trailer. (Click here to read a story about Fletcher's tour of the Success Xpress.)

“We recognize the work that you’ve done—the thousands of (job seekers) in your database and the numerous people you’ve trained … (and the employers) who talk about the importance of this program to their companies,” Fletcher said in thanking EKCEP Executive Director Mable Duke for the agency’s role in assisting both sides of the workforce equation—employers and employees—in eastern Kentucky.

The audience gathered for the event—which included numerous employers and employees who have been served by EKCEP—proves that EKCEP is succeeding in meeting the region’s workforce needs, according to Sec. Laura E. Owens of the Kentucky Education Cabinet, who accompanied Fletcher to the presentation.

“There is no question that wonderful work is happening here,” Owens said. “You have education … you have the businesses, and you’re all working together to come up with a trained workforce.

“Education in every capacity is changing, and the things that are happening with these programs, that’s absolutely what’s making a difference,” Owens continued. “I join with the governor in telling you that we’re pleased to be a part of what’s going on in your part of the state.”

EKCEP is a non-profit agency that administers state and federal employment and training programs and employer services in 23 eastern counties through its JobSight network of workforce centers. EKCEP has served employers and job seekers since 1968 with a wide variety of interrelated services that find jobs for people and people for jobs.

In 2006, EKCEP served over 90 employers in several key business sectors with an array of services, including the JobFit job-matching service and database of over 14,500 job seekers. EKCEP has also served 22 employers with On-the-Job Training (OJT) contracts that represented a commitment of over $960,000 in workforce development funds.

Duke thanked Fletcher for the additional funds and assured the governor the agency would continue to succeed in meeting eastern Kentucky’s workforce needs in 2007.

“I appreciate your confidence in EKCEP’s JobSight system, and your investment in the employers of eastern Kentucky,” Duke said to Fletcher. “I promise you won’t be disappointed in either one.”

Throughout 2006, EKCEP responded to the growing demand in the region’s coal industry for more skilled miners to meet escalating production demands. Services to coal industry employers have ranged from job fairs and screening to high-level incumbent worker training, provided to a total of 1,715 people seeking jobs in the coal industry.

John Small, vice president of operations for Excel Mining, told the audience gathered for the presentation that his company has benefited greatly from EKCEP’s financial support and partnership in the Coal Careers Program. The Coal Careers Program, a component of the Kentucky Coal Academy, provides prospective miners 1,700 hours of classroom and hands-on, on-the-job training. Successful participants become certified miners as well as Mine Emergency Technicians (METs), and are eligible for full-time jobs immediately upon completing the program.

Because of the program, Excel Mining has sponsored, graduated, hired, and retained 15 new fully trained and safe coal miners, Small said.

“That’s our ‘success story,’” Small said. “It’s hard to find a downside to this program. We’re still heavily involved in the program and look forward to a long future with it.”

The employees’ side of the workforce equation was represented at the presentation ceremony by Eric Wright, one of the thousands of coal miners who have benefited from workforce and training programs and services funded by EKCEP.

Wright, who is now a miner at International Coal Group’s Flint Ridge mining complex in Breathitt County, said the hands-on experience and training he received on actual mining equipment and three-dimensional computerized mining simulators was responsible for him getting into the thriving coal industry.

“This is an opportunity to further my career that I wouldn’t have had if it wasn’t for this program,” Wright said. “I hope this is something that will continue on for years to come.”

Overall, EKCEP served nearly 5,000 job seekers in 2006 with services ranging from two-year academic training to job search and placement assistance.

Fletcher said Wright’s story is a good example of the life-changing services that EKCEP provides to the region. He said the additional $400,000 in funding will make it possible for many more people to experience similar success.

Fletcher said the funds “will continue to expand educational opportunities and change lives. I hope as we move forward, and we see more coal production and economic development in this part of the country, that we’re also able to realize that allows us to have the revenue that we can reinvest and even take things to the next level.”