NWACC Helps Businesses With Training Needs

— Northwest Arkansas Community College is serving an increasing number of businesses through the customized training programs it offers.

Teresa Whitmire, the college’s director of business development, is the head of a four-person team that works with area businesses to find solutions to their work force training needs.

By The Numbers:

Training Revenue

As more businesses go through NorthWest Arkansas Community College for work force training services, the college collects more revenue.

Fiscal Year - Revenue From Training Contracts

2012 - $319,731

2013 - $497,273

2014 - $332,875^

^Represents first quarter (July through September) only.

Source: NorthWest Arkansas Community College

“We help them find the right trainer. We will set up the training for them. We help them write grants for training,” Whitmire said. “We’ll deliver training where you want it and when you want it.”

Walmart, Tyson and J.B. Hunt are among the dozens of companies and organizations that have used the college for work force training purposes, she said.

Numbers provided by the college show word is getting around about the college’s services.

In July and August, for example, the college delivered 70 training contracts in which 627 people participated. During the same time period last year, the college delivered 23 contracts with 328 people participating.

The revenue collected from training contracts is surging as well, from $319,731 in fiscal year 2012 to $332,875 during just the first three months of this fiscal year. The college keeps the profit, Whitmire said.

That revenue is important considering the college’s student enrollment has fallen two consecutive fall semesters. The college reported having 8,102 students at the beginning of September, a 3.8 percent drop from September 2012. The Board of Trustees approved a tight budget for this fiscal year that was based on an assumption of flat enrollment.

The Helen R. Walton Children’s Enrichment Center in Bentonville, a resource center for early childhood educators and professionals, has used the college to provide management training to 75 people over the last four years.

Many directors of early childhood education centers have a strong background in education but not necessarily in business, said Michelle Stephens, director of the Enrichment Center. That’s why the training they receive through the college is so valuable.

“It has been extremely beneficial,” Stephens said. “They have really helped us tailor a program that would be directly beneficial to the early childhood work force. And the outcomes have been significant. We have seen so many policies and procedures changed as a direct outcome from the services provided by (the college).”

Stephens said her organization’s relationship with the college is “one of our key collaborative partnerships.”

LaTonya Jackson, a senior manager in talent development for Sam’s Club, said the company has put more than 200 employees through training programs arranged by the college during the past two years.

One of those programs was about Lectora, software used for designing and developing e-learning modules. Participants attended classes for a week and had to take a test at the end in order to become certified to use Lectora. Jackson was among those who took the class.

“It was a great program,” Jackson said. “They brought in the Lectora professionals to teach it.”

She said the partnership Sam’s Club has developed with Whitmire and the college has been “phenomenal.”

Whitmire said the college guarantees the training it provides.

“If you’re not pleased, we’ll do whatever we can to make it right,” she said.

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