Bailey Urges Legislators to Support Budget Request
President K. Ray Bailey, right, and Speaker of the House, James B. Black, left, after presentations in Ferguson Auditorium.
President K. Ray Bailey urged members of the North Carolina General Assembly visiting A-B Tech April 29 to support funding for enrollment growth, salary increases, equipment, and the North Carolina Community College System's BioNetwork.
About 60 legislators attended an hour-long presentation in Ferguson Auditorium about the needs of A-B Tech and the System during a Legislative Weekend sponsored by the Asheville Area Chamber of Commerce. A reception with refreshments prepared by Baking and Pastry students followed the event.
President Bailey told lawmakers a recent statewide economic impact study shows A-B Tech has provided more than 1.8 million hours of training for the Buncombe and Madison workforce and accounts for nearly $200 million in earnings annually for the local economy.
"(NCCCS) needs enrollment growth funding (of nearly $15 million)Š so we can continue to provide services to dislocated workers, to recent high school graduates, and to adults who are seeking to improve their marketability in the workplace," he said.
Mr. Bailey thanked legislators for beginning the implementation of the Community College Faculty and Professional Staff Salary Plan last year and urged them to continue implementing the plan by appropriating $27 million to help move salaries to the national average.
Members of the General Assembly enjoying refreshments prepared by A-B Tech's Baking and Pastry students. The legislators were on campus April 29 for a presentation on budget requests in Ferguson Auditorium.
He also asked for support of the System's $7 million BioNetwork request, which includes funding for the BioBusiness Center located at the college's Enka Campus. "Your support of BioNetwork is a direct investment in the economic development of this state," he said.
Pointing to the cost of equipping the new Hospitality Education Center, President Bailey also urged support of the System's equipment funding request of nearly $232 million.
During the presentation, legislators also heard personal accounts of how A-B Tech has made a difference in the lives of Student Government Association President Alice Powell, English Instructor Kathy Godfrey, and Ernest Grant, a winner of a 2004 Outstanding Alumni Award from the American Association of Community Colleges.
"I'm not sure where we would be if not for this school's inviting heart," said Powell, who first came to campus as a baby when her recently-widowed mother enrolled her and her two sisters in the Child Care Center so she could study Hotel and Restaurant Management. "Our mom often refers to the college as 'our second mother.'"
Godfrey worked at Kellwood, sewing waistbands on 635 pairs of ladies' pants a day, until the factory closed. She enrolled at A-B Tech with simple aspirations of learning to type until faculty and staff members encouraged her to set her sights higher. She earned a bachelor's degree from UNCA and received a teaching scholarship to attend the University of Tennessee before returning as an instructor to the college where she got her start.
Grant, a nursing education clinician in burn outreach at the North Carolina Jaycee Burn Center, credited A-B Tech with helping him fulfill his dream of working in health care, rather than following the path taken by many of his high school classmates of working in the local blanket factory.
Maltese Ambassador Visits Enka Campus
Pictured, from left, are Russ Yelton, director of A-B Tech's Small Business Incubator; Max Queen, Vice President of Continuing Education; His Excellency John Lowell, Ambassador from Malta; Marie-Therese nee Zarb, the ambassador's wife; D. Bruce Shine, Honorary Consul of Malta; and Glen C. Shults, Asheville attorney who served as an Asheville connection for the ambassador.
His Excellency John Lowell, the Ambassador from Malta to the United States, traveled all the way to A-B Tech to visit the Small Business Incubator on the Enka Campus, and he was impressed.
"I've seen lots of wonderful things," he said, after a walking tour of the facilities. Lowell was complimentary of the incubator, and wanted to learn more from Director Russ Yelton to help Malta's incubator work for his citizens.
"I would like to know, as a college, how you can work together with Malta," Lowell said. "I want to follow up my visit here and see more concrete results."
Currently Malta has one small business incubator under Malta Enterprises. "Before there were various different groups. Now they are under one umbrella," he said.
Malta is made up of three small islands in the Mediterranean Sea, south of Sicily. It is 124 square miles, with a population of just over 400,000. Malta joined the European Union in May 2004.
The Ambassador and his wife tasted the organic sugar-free ginger ale produced by Sulo Organics, a client of the Small Business Incubator. Pictured are Marie-Therese nee Zarb, wife of the ambassador; His Excellency John Lowell, Ambassador from Malta; Sandy Byrne of Sulo Organics; Russ Yelton, director of A-B Tech's Small Business Incubator; and D. Bruce Shine, Honorary Consul of Malta.
Its location makes it ideal for European and North African trading, according to Lowell. "We have an excellent door to North Africa. We speak English and understand the Arab nations," Lowell said. "For manufacturers who want a market beyond the United States or Europe, we could be the stepping stone.
He and his wife, Marie-Therese nee Zarb, were also intrigued with the organic sugar-free ginger ale produced by Sulo Organics, a client of A-B Tech's incubator.
"They called me the next day, asking to get the drink in Malta," said Yelton.
Lowell was also accompanied by Bruce Shine, honorary consul of Malta from Kingsport, Tenn., and Glen Shults, an attorney in Asheville who served as an Asheville connection for the ambassador.
Shine discussed the option of using Yelton's connections to market Maltese products in the United States. "There is a cookie company interested in coming to the United States. They are gourmet, good cookies," he said.
Lowell's wife, Marie-Therese, enjoyed the tour of Blue Ridge Food Ventures, mentioning that culinary students in Malta could make good use of similar facilities to create and market their own specialties. "There are many students wishing to sustain their own restaurants, and branching out to market their own products," she said.
Despite the fact the incubator was not ready for full occupation, Lowell still thought A-B Tech had a good thing. "You are incredibly lucky to get this structure," he said of the donation of the Enka Campus from BASF.
JobLink Career Center Clients Succeed
Carol Sumerton
Two clients from the JobLink Career Centers in Buncombe and Madison counties were honored at the North Carolina Employment and Training Association Conference April 13-15 at the Renaissance Hotel in Asheville.
Carol Somerton from the Madison Center and Kathy Varner from the Mountain Area JobLink Career Center were two of four individuals recognized as outstanding participants in workforce education and training in the state of North Carolina.
Somerton was also the outstanding participant for 2004 at the Madison center and was awarded with that honor at the Mountain Area Workforce Development Board luncheon. She came to the JobLink Career Center after being laid off from Sonopress in Weaverville after working there several years. She attended the Career Perspectives workshop and decided to enter the Medical Laboratory Technology program at A-B Tech.
During her program, Somerton was awarded the Grimes-West Endowment Scholarship established by the Estes-Winn-Blomberg Foundation. She was also consistently honored on the Dean's List for her excellent grades.
Kathy Varner
Before graduation, Somerton started her job search and obtained a job at Weaverville Family Medicine as a Medical Lab Tech. She said she would not have been able to obtain her education and her great job without all the help she received at the Madison County JobLink Career Center.
Varner came to the Aspire Career Development Course offered by HRD as a Work First participant through Buncombe County Department of Social Services, according to Alma Fisher, instructor/job developer. "She actively and enthusiastically participated in every aspect of Aspire: assessments, computer lab, career exploration, community resources, job search techniques, and work maturity skills," Fisher said.
After completing Aspire, Work First participants who are not immediately entering short-term vocational training are required to attend Job Club and do documented, independent job search for a total of 35 hours per week. Her weekly timesheets frequently exceeded 50 hours.
In December 2004, she accepted a temporary position with Comforce Staffing at Ingles Markets, Inc., and in April 2005 Varner became the permanent full-time Leased Property Administrator at Ingle's Markets Corporate Office.
"Many thanks go out to Helen Beck, Director of Mountain Area Training Services, and to Ellen Westbrook, Buncombe County Job Link Coordinator, and their dedicated staff," said Varner in her acceptance speech. "And my sincerest thanks go out to A-B Tech's HRD Program, Alma Fisher, Carolyn McCarter-Wood, Joan Gilmore, Lee Spencer, Shelley White, Kay Manley, Max Queen, and of course, President Ray Bailey. Thank you for your heart of genuine care, concern, and love for each individual participant that passes your way. You really do make a difference."