JAMES CITY – Thirteen residents of the James City area are the newest graduates of a state-coordinated training academy aimed at increasing the diversity and quality of the state’s highway construction workforce.
The James City Highway Construction Trades Academy, or HCTA, students underwent an intensive, six-week hands-on training. The training was sponsored by the N.C. Department of Transportation’s Office of Civil Rights On-the-Job Training Unit and this academy was hosted by the James City Community Center organization, a community-based non-profit. For the first time ever, NCDOT’s Division of Highways partnered to provide two days of in-class and hands-on heavy equipment operation training at its New Bern maintenance yard.
“I believe these students who came to join this program will be frontrunners that will hopefully open up doors for other people in the community to get employment and we need that,” said Maree Bell Minor, management coordinator for the James City Community Center, which is hosting this academy. “We are very pleased to offer this, not only to the people in our county, but also to the surrounding areas.”
Recent graduates joined with hopes the training will help them earn good-paying, high-skilled transportation jobs, such as helping build the Havelock Bypass in Craven County.
“I want to be a part of helping to build (the bypass),” said Marcus Jones, an HCTA participant and long-time James City resident. “Whatever I need to do, highway construction and things of that nature. Most of my family is from James City, so it’s something uplifting for us to help our community and we can get it done.”
Jones and the 12 other graduates celebrated with a graduation ceremony at The Flame Catering and Banquet Center in New Bern Thursday. Over 40 other invited guests attended the function, including N.C. Representative Steve Tyson (District 3) and Craven County Board of Commissioners Vice-Chairman Denny Bucher.
During the academy, participants were also able to interview with prime contractors and disadvantaged business enterprises working on highway construction projects.
The statewide HCTAs are intended to train women, minorities and disadvantaged individuals for the skills they will need to obtain employment in highway construction. The academy is part of the NCDOT’s ongoing mission to create a more diverse workforce that brings fresh perspectives and innovation to the transportation industry, and more closely reflects the state’s changing population.
“We face challenges daily, and when it comes to job vacancies, we sometimes find difficulty in getting good, qualified candidates to apply,” said Division 2 Fleet Manager Daniel Hudson, who has been employed with NCDOT for 18 years. “It is exciting to see folks wanting to come into this field and wanting to learn. When you have a group of people that are eager to learn and want to be here it makes it fun and beneficial for everyone involved. This crowd has been really fun to work with.”
For the last five years, except for the majority of 2020, the OJT Unit has sponsored this type of academy around the state through Federal Highway Authority OJT and Supportive Services funding.
The funding allows participants to be provided with not only highway construction skills training, job search training/assistance and job-related personal protective equipment, but also supportive services, such as emergency short-term lodging, daycare and transportation assistance.
This was the first trades academy the highway staff have been so directly involved with. However, it will not be the last as the division plans to be similarly engaged in future academies in other areas of the state. So far in North Carolina, there have been other HCTAs established in Rocky Mount, Raleigh, Fayetteville and Charlotte since December.
Office of Civil Rights OJT Supportive Services Program Coordinator Vanessa Powell said because James City is an Environmental Justice area there are multiple projects and opportunities available and the hope is that more jobs will be provided to participants in the HCTA programs to the benefit of the surrounding communities as well.
Among those seeking transportation-related employment with Jones were fellow graduates like New Bern’s Wayvona Lyons, who understood women are rare in the construction industry and recognized a great opportunity for herself to “blossom into other areas.”
“When you’re in debt for a master’s and bachelor’s degree, you really value something that’s free that you can take further with you outside of this program,” Lyons said. “Construction is a field I am not really familiar with, but I’m always willing to learn. I am an entrepreneur and I know they have subcontracting in construction, so I have to learn in order to know what I want to do as an entrepreneur in business, so this is a great opportunity for me to learn from the bottom to gain the basic skills and work my way up.”
Along with Lyons and Jones, the graduates included: Ciarra Murphy, of Trenton; Brandon Hill, of Trenton; Travares Lane, of Trenton; John Ibarra, of Havelock; Aaron Abbott, of Havelock; George Payton, of New Bern; Jordan Majette, of New Bern; Douglas Smith, of New Bern; Brian King, of New Bern; Gregory Sanders, of New Bern; and Darion Jones, of New Bern.