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NC Department of Social Services Institute
Hickory, NC
October 24, 2013

2.  Cassandra Atkinson
Transitions Coordinator
NC Community Colleges System Office
 Tish Blair
Accelerating Transitions Navigator
Blue Ridge Community College (BRCC)
 Allen Call
Transitions Coordinator
Wilkes Community College (WCC)
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3.  Setting the Stage
NC Community Colleges System Office
 Community College Presentations
Blue Ridge Community College (BRCC), Flat Rock, NC
Wilkes Community College (WCC), Wilkesboro, NC
 Social Service Partnerships
Social Service Representatives Assisting BRCC and WCC
 Questions and Answers
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4.  Did You Know?
Video
 What Does It Mean?
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Hope Opportunity Jobs Hope Opportunity Jobs

5. Hope Opportunity Jobs Hope Opportunity Jobs
 Helping Adults Achieve Success
 Helping Students Master Basic
Skills and Begin Occupational
Skills Training
 Accelerating Opportunity:
A National Initiative
 Planned Outcomes
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6. Key Strategies Benefits for
Students
Benefits to the
Community
Integrated Career
Pathways
• Co-enrollment in Basic Skills and
Occupational Education Curricula
• Contextualized Instruction
• Team Teaching
• Reduced time to complete career
pathways and earn credentials
• Challenging college level
academic engagement
• Organized learning that results in
gaining real work skills and
credentials
• Increased educational attainment
of students
• Increased supply of trained
workers
College Leadership and
Staff Commitment
• Engage Leadership-All Levels
• Active Implementation Teams
(Basic Skills, Curriculum, Continuing
Education, Student Support)
• Opportunity to enroll in college
level classes
• Increased opportunity for course
work to transfer to four-year
colleges
• Increased number of students
completing career pathways and
earning degrees
• More efficient and effective use
of funding
Stakeholder Engagement • Partnerships: employers, Workforce
Development Board, Department of Social
Services
• Career Pathways Based on Labor Market
Demand
• Industry recognized credentials
• Employment
• Apprenticeships, Internships, on-
the-Job training
• Trained/Skilled workforce
• Increased Earning Potential of
Students Earning Credentials
• Closing the income Gap
• Students earning family
sustaining wages
Comprehensive Student
Supports
• Dedicated Navigators or Counselors
• Coordination with Student Support
• Coordination with Community Based
Organizations such as DSS, Goodwill,
United Way, etc.
• Braided Funding
• Career counseling and
exploration training
• Academic and non-academic
support services
• Focused and engaged students
• Students prepared for work
and/or associate and bachelor’s
degrees
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7.  Serves two counties in western North Carolina
◦ Henderson County Campus
 180 West Campus Dr., Flat Rock
◦ Transylvania County Campus
 45 Oak Park Dr., Brevard
 Rural communities
 2,308 curriculum students enrolled for fall
semester, 2013
 1,064 basic skills students enrolled in 2011-2012
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8.  Serves three counties in northwestern NC
◦ Wilkes Community College, “Main Campus”
 1328 South Collegiate Dr., Wilkesboro
◦ Ashe Campus
 363 Campus Dr., West Jefferson
◦ Alleghany Center
 115 Atwood St., #A, Sparta
 2,188 curriculum students enrolled for fall
semester, 2013
 1,184 basic skills students enrolled in 2011-2012
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9.  Explain Accelerating Transitions program to entire
group of new students
 Meet with any individual students who are
interested
 Explain commitment to students who want to
participate and help them complete enrollment
forms
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10.  Discuss adult high school, high school
equivalency, college, and career goals
 Explore College Readiness pathways’ options
including Basic Skills Plus, Pathways to
Employment, and Project College
 Help students embrace postsecondary and
occupational goals beyond completion of a
secondary credential upon initial enrollment
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11.  Tuition and registration fees may be waived
through Basic Skills Plus
 Student activity fees and student insurance fees
are paid for from bookstore receipts
 Books and supplies may be covered by grants or
bookstore receipts
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12.  Apply for scholarships through organizations such
as DSS
 Once students obtain their high school
equivalency, they can apply for financial aid
 Students may apply for a $750 high school
equivalency scholarship from the College
Foundation if their total GED score is at least 2700
(by current testing standards)
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13.  Tuition and fees may be waived through Basic
Skills Plus
 Students are able to use textbooks through a
lending library
 Once students complete a secondary credential,
they apply for financial aid (Pell grants,
scholarships, etc.)
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14.  WIA II (Workforce Investment Act) / “Get Real”
program
◦ Helps learners between 16 and 21 with tuition, fees,
textbooks, transportation, and miscellaneous college
expenses
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15.  All services at the college that are available to
curriculum students
◦ Advising / Counseling
 Academic
 Career
 Disability
 Tutoring
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16.  JobLink – locations both on campus and off
campus
◦ Workshops
 Job Search Overview
 Identify Your Key Skills
 Fine Tune Your Resume
 Career Exploration
 Ace the Interview
 Effective Communication
◦ Career Readiness Certificate (CRC)
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17.  AccessAbility Services
◦ Helps learners with documented disabilities succeed in
college
 Academic Support Center
◦ Provides 1-on-1 tutoring in writing, math, and reading
 JobLink
◦ Helps all WCC learners improve employability skills such
as resume writing, interviewing skills, and “soft” skills for
the workplace
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18.  SAGE (Supporting Academic Goals for Education)
◦ Provides 1-on-1 tutoring in all subject areas for students
who qualify
 Career Counseling
 Emotional and Psychological Counseling
 College Readiness Transitions Coordinators,
Coaches, and Instructors
 Curriculum Advisors
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19.  Develop partnerships with outside agencies
 Learn about what resources agencies offer
 Explain Accelerating Transitions program to
agencies
 Leave rack cards with agencies to publicize
program
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20.  Agencies:
◦ Local Division of Workforce Solutions (DWS)
◦ Housing Authority
◦ Homeless Shelter
◦ The Healing Place – helps those who have been sexually
abused
◦ Mainstay – helps those who have been abused
◦ DSS – TANF/Work First and Snap
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21.  Agencies continued:
◦ National Alliance on Mental Illness (NAMI)
 Received pamphlet about NAMI through Caring Emergency
Coalition meeting
 Took a class that dealt with people living with someone with
mental illness
 A lot of the information was useful in dealing with all people
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22.  Agencies continued:
◦ Caring Emergency Coalition
 Representatives from many local organizations
 Meets monthly
 Emily McDuffy from Interfaith Assistance Ministry
(IAM)
 What the Caring Emergency Coalition is about
 What IAM does
 How IAM and BRCC have worked together
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23.  Be willing to help other organizations
◦ Did a presentation at the Job Service Employer
Committee quarterly meeting at the request of the
Division of Workforce Solutions manager
◦ Did a presentation at a Henderson County Homeless
Coalition meeting at the request of a member attending
the Caring meeting
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24.  Be willing to help other organizations (continued)
◦ I’m now treasurer of local chapter of NAMI
◦ *Emily McDuffy from Interfaith Assistance Ministry is
attending Social Services Institute conference at my
request
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25.  Dept. of Social Services and Wilkes Partnership
for Children (Smart Start)
◦ Helps provide transportation (Wilkes Transportation for
Authority) and childcare for College Readiness learners
 Smart Start, Even Start, and Wilkes Partnership
for Children
◦ Provide child development workers and monies for food
at family resource centers
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26.  Dept. of Social Services Work First program
◦ Promotes College Readiness students to finish a
secondary credential at Wilkes CC, attend college,
improve employability skills, and find employment
◦ Works closely with College Readiness staff to ensure
students are meeting goals
◦ Wilkes County DSS Work First Contacts
 Penny Barlow, penny.barlow@wilkes.nc.gov
 Eunice Call, eunice.call@wilkescc.edu
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27.  Crossfire Methodist Church and Iglesia Evangilica
Emmanuel
◦ Allow English as a Second Language classes in parish
halls at a nominal expense
 United Way
◦ Provides additional funding to the family resource
centers for utilities and repairs
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28.  Volunteers for Wilkes Literacy
◦ Offers 1-on-1 tutoring to students needing fundamental
reading skills
 Wilkes Telecommunications
◦ Provides flash drives for Basic Skills Plus students
enrolled in team-taught computer literacy curriculum
courses (CIS 111/110)
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29.  Support classes in basic skills department to
assist with curriculum course work
 Help students with financial needs
◦ Get help from Interfaith Assistance Ministry
 Financial
 Clothing
◦ Bus tickets
◦ Assistance from church
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30.  Guide on how to proceed after completing high
school equivalency
◦ What forms need to be completed and where to get them
◦ Offer to assist students if they need help, but let them be
responsible for getting the forms and completing what
they can on their own
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31.  Wilkes CC “Bridge” Programs for Adult Basic
Education students
◦ PASS (Preparing to Achieve Student Success)
 Intensive, four-week, summer program that helps learners
with a secondary credential improve reading, language, and
math skills to bypass developmental education courses
 Allows students to develop networking skills with college
personnel prior to full-time curriculum enrollment
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32.  Bridge Programs (continued)
◦ COMPASS (Career Objectives + Mentoring = Positive
Academic Student Success)
 Year-long “main campus” program that helps learners
complete a High School Equivalency or Adult High School
diploma
 Helps learners at the postsecondary level explore career
objectives through the on-line program, Workforce Connects,
and review academic goals to retake the college entrance
test through the on-line program, Plato Learning
Environment
 Work First students are better able to smoothly transition to
the college environment
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33.  Cassandra Atkinson
NC Community Colleges System Office
atkinsonc@nccommunitycolleges.edu
919-807-7144
 Tish Blair
Blue Ridge Community College (BRCC)
p_blair@blueridge.edu
828-694-1651
 Allen Call
Wilkes Community College (WCC)
adcall323@email.wilkescc.edu
Phone 336-667-6493
Thank you!
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