Sponsor comments.

• Author: Haygood, Jennifer

NC Business Leaders:

On behalf of the State Board, greetings from the NC Community College System.

Our system serves 700,000 students across North Carolina, producing 36,000 graduates annually with an associate degree, diploma or certificate, and preparing 75,000 students to earn industry certifications. We also assist over 700 small-business startups per year, helping to create and retain over 3,800 jobs. And in 2016-17, we trained over 34,000 employees for 922 companies through our Customized Training program.

Last November, North Carolina's apprenticeship program, ApprenticeshipNC, became part of the NC Community College System. It is a unique, flexible training system that combines job-related technical instruction with structured on-the-job learning experiences and provides workers incremental wage increases as they progress on the job. ApprenticeshipNC has helped meet the needs of a skilled workforce in North Carolina since 1939, and we are excited to have it within the Community College System. It is a perfect fit in our strategy to build our workforce and help grow the states economy.

The mission of our system is to open the door to high-quality, accessible educational opportunities that minimize barriers to postsecondary education, maximize student success, develop a globally and multi-culturally competent workforce, and improve the lives and...