Local Career Center to move

The NCWorks Surry County Career Center will begin operating Oct. 17 from this location at 942 W. Pine St. in Mount Airy, formerly home to a Farm Bureau insurance agency.

A local operation helping job seekers is on the move, but just a short distance from the current location of NCWorks Surry County Career Center in Mount Airy.

The center’s new digs are at 942 W. Pine St. in a building formerly occupied by the Farm Bureau near the CF Jones Classic Cafe. It is less than a mile from the existing 541 W. Pine St./Suite 300 facility which is near the Mill Creek General Store.

Officials say a week-long closure of the NCWorks Career Center will accompany the move, which was announced Thursday by the Kernersville-based Piedmont Triad Regional Workforce Development Council.

The center will close on Monday and remain inactive until it reopens on October 17 at the new location.

Those who need to access services during this time can contact the Forsyth County NCWorks Career Center at 336-464-0520 or online at www.NCWorks.gov, for assistance Tuesday through Friday.

Application for workers

When asked Thursday afternoon what made the move easier, Tammy Caudill, Strategic Initiatives Coordinator for the Piedmont Triad Regional Council, said it was related to space — related to increased demand for center services and the need to better respond to them.

“With the ongoing labor shortage, businesses need more help recruiting qualified employees,” said Caudill, whose role on the board is to work on behalf of member communities, including Mount Airy. and Surry County.

Many services are available to job seekers at NCWorks that help fill this job gap.

“NCWorks is doing more to help solve this problem than just placing individuals in jobs,” Caudill added.

For those eligible, funding is available for training programs to prepare them for the jobs most needed, she mentioned of one.

“Many of the services available through NCWorks are available to all citizens of North Carolina,” Caudill advised. “Some people don’t know that these benefits are available to them for free through the NCWorks Career Center.”

Caudill has pointed out in the past that some people don’t know that an individual doesn’t need to be unemployed to use many of NCWorks’ services.

In the 2021/2022 program year (June 30, 2021 to July 1, 2022), Surry County NCWorks Career Center provided nearly 21,500 services to 3,840 people, according to the Strategic Initiatives Coordinator.

“We hope to serve even more people at the newly renovated Career Center and continue to help bridge the gap between the workforce and the needs of local businesses.

This was echoed by career center director Beverly Frey, who said staff were eager to begin offering employment services in the new location.

“Over the past few months, work has been done to renovate the facility and we are delighted to have people visiting us there,” Frye said in a statement.

“We are proud of the work done by all of the NCWorks Career Centers in our seven-county region,” Executive Director Wendy Walker-Fox of the Piedmont Triad Regional Workforce Development Council said in a statement. communicated. “We look forward to the opening of the new NCWorks Career Center in Surry County and are grateful to the staff at Forsyth County Career Center for helping to serve customers during the move.”

A grand opening is planned at the new location on a date yet to be announced.

Tom Joyce can be reached at 336-415-4693 or on Twitter @Me_Reporter.

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