SANFORD - North Carolina State Sen. Chad Barefoot visited Sanford this week to get a first-hand view of the Central Carolina Works program.

CCW is an educational initiative by a consortium including Central Carolina Community College, education (Chatham County Schools, Harnett County Schools, and Lee County Schools), business, industry, and community leaders.

CCW funds the placement of career and college advisors in each of the public high schools in Chatham, Harnett, and Lee counties. These advisors work one-on-one with students to help them take advantage of the state-funded Career and College Promise (CCP) program.

CCP enables high school juniors and seniors to enroll, tuition-free, in college credit courses that also apply toward their high school diploma. By the time they graduate from high school, they could earn a certificate and have a jump-start on their career or college education.

Sen. Barefoot is the primary sponsor of Senate Bill 535 - to establish the NC Works program to place community college career coaches in high schools to build awareness of dual enrollment opportunities, to conduct academic and career advising with students, and to coordinate faculty and staff professional development activities.

The bill states as its purpose: "There is established the NC Works Career Coach Program to place community college career coaches in high schools to assist students with determining career goals and identifying community college programs that would enable students to achieve these goals."

"I believe that Central Carolina Community College and Lee, Harnett and Chatham counties have begun a great program that will offer more opportunities to our career and technical students. Senate Bill 535 expands that program to other parts of the state with the hope that we can connect our students to good-paying jobs as soon as possible," said Sen. Barefoot.

Sen.. Barefoot had the opportunity to visit Southern Lee High School, where he met with four CCW students and Lara Abels, Lead Career & College Advisor at the school.

"Our visit to Southern Lee High School helped confirm the important impact this program is making on the lives of students," said Sen. Barefoot. "Witnessing the collaboration between the public schools, the private sector, and the community college system establishes a model that I believe the entire state should aspire to. These communities should be very proud of what they have accomplished."

Southern Lee High School Principal Chris Dossenbach said he is extremely pleased with the success of the CCW program at Southern Lee.

"We have seen a gradual increase in the number of students taking classes through CCCC and through early registration, that number will increase again next year. Having our adviser, Mrs. Abels, on campus each day allows her to form positive, trusting relationships with both students and parents which opens the door for candid conversations about college opportunities," said Dossenbach.

"Once students are taking classes, Mrs. Abels is able to keep track of their progress and help mentor them throughout the semester. We are lucky to have the CCW program in Lee County and I am excited to see what happens next."

Among those taking part in the senator's visit was Lee County Schools Supt. Andy Bryan. "Besides being very proud of our Southern Lee students for their poise and confidence in articulating the benefits of Central Carolina Works and the Caterpillar Apprenticeship program, it is always reaffirming to have visitors from outside our community to acknowledge the success and unique opportunities available to our students," said Bryan. "It also exemplifies the community benefits of the strong partnership between Lee County Schools and Central Carolina Community College."

Kirk Bradley, Chairman, President & C.E.O. of Lee-Moore Capital Company, who spearheaded the intensive fund-raising to launch the CCW initiative, said he is honored that Sen. Barefoot has chosen CCW to be the model for the new workforce development bill submitted to the Senate.

"It was very helpful for him to see the impact of CC Works in action during his visit to Southern Lee," said Bradley. "I am hopeful he can bring this important initiative to the rest of the state.

"Sen. Barefoot believes that a closer relationship between the K-12 systems and their local community college will benefit our citizens and help North Carolina to have the most competitive workforce in the world," said Bradley. "He liked what he saw in CC Works and designed his bill based on CCCC's successful program. I think the visit to see it in action at Southern Lee was very beneficial as debate begins on his bill."

Julian Philpott, chairman of the Central Carolina Community College Board of Trustees, said, "We are honored that Sen. Barefoot is using our Central Carolina Works program as a model for his workforce development legislation. During his visit, I believe he was very impressed with the students, educators, and career counselors he met who are involved in the CC Works program. The program is experiencing even faster growth than what we had envisioned and we feel that the students and employers in our service area will reap tremendous benefits from our communities' investment in CC Works."

CCCC President Dr. T.E. Marchant said he was pleased for Sen. Barefoot to visit and learn more about the Central Carolina Works program.

"Our CCW Career and College Advisors are doing a phenomenal job in working with the high school students in our three-county area. The program has seen great progress, and we're expecting large growth as we look toward this fall," said Marchant.

"The Central Carolina Works program owes much of its success to Kirk Bradley, who has spearheaded the fundraising effort, and to Julian Philpott, the chairman of our college trustees.

"In addition, the college is proud to partner with the Central Carolina area school systems and county commissioners in helping to see this program come to fruition."

Virginia Brown, CCCC's Director of Secondary Partnerships, said she is very pleased with the success and progress that Central Carolina Works has demonstrated during the first year of implementation. "Together with our secondary partners, we look forward to serving even more students in the coming academic year," she said.

For more information on the Central Carolina Works program, contact Virginia T. Brown at vbrown@cccc.edu or by telephone at 919-718-7370, or visit the website www.cccc.edu/highschool/inHS, or visit the CCW blog www.cccc.edu/ccwblog. Those who wish to be added to the CCW monthly newsletter can contact Brown.

For more information on Central Carolina Community College, visit www.cccc.edu.