The Alabama Community College System has introduced three new programs designed to address issues of employment, child care and recidivism.

With support from the Alabama Department of Workforce Development, the Youth Summer Employment Program, Child Care Training Program and Employment Transition Program were announced Tuesday, April 23, at Trenholm State Community College.

Each program would help “increase Alabama's workforce participation rate and reduce residents' reliance on state financial assistance programs.”

The Summer Youth Employment Program allows ACCS member colleges and universities to “employ current, past, and prospective students ages 16-24 in summer employment and on-the-job training opportunities.” The program is specifically designed to provide skills development opportunities for students from families with income levels at or below 200% of the poverty level.

“Students benefit in many ways, including the opportunity to be on a college campus at the young age of 16 and understand and prepare for their academic journey,” said Chadae Austin, student coach at Wallace-Selma Community College. “They also learn the finer details of how the college admissions process works, the responsibilities of each department and where they fit in as a student. On top of all of this, they also get paid.”

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Wallace Selma will be participating in the summer work program for the first time in 2022 and estimates that dozens of students have benefited from the program.

The child care training program, supported by the Alabama ACCS Adult Education Division, “provides citizens interested in child care careers with the core skills necessary to succeed in a living wage career in the child care field.”

The newest program, the Employment Transition Program, connects formerly incarcerated people to “sustainable wage jobs through a network of employers.” Many potential employees earn credentials from Ingram State Technical College, the state's only prison education institution.

“DHR's goal is to help residents in need find the opportunities and training to break the cycle of dependency and change the direction of their lives,” said Alabama DHR Commissioner Nancy Buckner. We couldn't achieve this goal without working with the Alabama Community College System, which allows us to integrate academic and workforce education to help Alabamians build a strong foundation for their futures.”

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“The Alabama Community College System exists to provide opportunities to support our residents beyond the classroom, and we are able to do so thanks to organizations like DHR that are such strong advocates for education and resident success,” said Jimmy H. Baker, chancellor of the Alabama Community College System. “We appreciate the confidence placed in our system's ability to deliver programs that impact our residents to maximize their success.”

Residents are local OneAdult Education Providers For more information about the program, please contact or the ACCS DHR Project Director.

ACCS is a network of 24 community and technical colleges with an estimated economic impact of $6.6 billion, and also runs several other programs, including the Alabama Technology Network, which “provides a wide range of training and services directly to businesses and industry,” and the Skills for Success program for high school students.

Grayson Everett is the state and politics editor for Yellow Hammer News. You can follow him on Twitter. Grayson