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Hidden and Lost Talent
NC East Alliance’s Hidden & Lost Talent initiative identifies and helps individuals who live in underserved communities or who are restricted in some way from finding employment. It also reaches out to members of the military who are returning to civilian life and want to transfer the skills they learned while enlisted into satisfying employment. Mark Hamblin, NC East chief operating officer, makes all that happen. “Lost and hidden talent is something I’ve had a passion for forever,” he says. “We’re working on ways to bring them back, work with them, give them a pathway. There are people living in counties where the opportunities are really limited.”
The initiative’s goals are to recognize and access talent, provide resources and training, and help people with untapped potential find rewarding work, wherever they live in Eastern North Carolina. It has four platforms: find opportunity youth, ages 16-24, who are out of school and unemployed and connect them with mentorships and skill training; support veterans transitioning to civilian life with job opportunities that leverage their training and skills; provide opportunities for formerly incarcerated people to re-enter the workforce and build rewarding lives by collaborating with prospective employers; and build a network of businesses, educators and nonprofits to pair this untapped talent with economic opportunities.
Hamblin offers a scenario. “A student who turns 16 and isn’t excited about school,” he says. “At 16, the state says they can leave, and once they walk out those doors, you’re not going to get them back. They’re lost. Not only are they unemployed, but they’re unemployable.” Reaching that 16 to 24 age group begins in middle school. “We need to start expanding their opportunities, so we can change the direction of that ship,” he says. “We’re looking at ways to help them learn a trade as a possible pathway as soon as possible.”
NC East will launch a series of trade programs this fall. Initially set for Halifax, Edgecombe and Warren counties, these skill centers will be held in schools with under-utilized or abandoned buildings. “That’s a part of North Carolina where we have to do something,” Hamblin says. “We’re looking to bring the faith community in. We want organizations to help us. We’d like to work with the school systems and keep these kids in school, so the schools can keep their [Average Daily Membership, a statistic used by North Carolina schools to determine enrollment and funding]. They can get pulled from traditional schools for two or three hours at a time.”
Skill centers could offer training in HVAC, plumbing, auto repair, carpentry, culinary and electrical. “In woodworking and carpentry, you could teach them to make something — a chair or piece of furniture — and when it’s done, you see the pride in them. I did that!” Hamblin says. “Then, for them, opportunities in carpentry are endless.”
Hamblin would like the initiative to include training in other business disciplines such as bookkeeping, marketing and sales. “The goal is when you come through the program you’re more employable,” he says. “The whole idea of mentorship is to walk with these young people, teach them things they may not have thought of before and let them run with it.”
Eastern North Carolina is home to several military installations, including Marine Corps Air Station Cherry Point, Camp Lejeune, Fort Bragg, Seymour Johnson Air Force Base and U.S. Coast Guard in Elizabeth City. NC East is committed to financially working with 15 community colleges for the next five years in a plan called Career Concourse, which will match employers with skill sets of former members of the military. “We can expand it to include everywhere in the eastern part of the state,” Hamblin says. “So, if a person is coming out of Jacksonville but wants to work in Elizabeth City, they can do that. We want to say, ‘We want you to stay here, in our state. Here’s your opportunity.’ I really want to emphasize that this is a holistic approach. Lifestyle, marketing, it’s all part of the puzzle.”
The initiative’s incarceration platform would begin six months before a person is released. Career Concourse instruction will help them explore different opportunities to find the right fit. Hamblin says some community colleges could work with prison populations for a couple of years prior to release, developing skill sets and knowledge about what employment is available.
Hamblin says he spends much of his time, “trying to make those connections, planning it out, and also looking for partners on the education side of things.” He says NC East doesn’t claim to have all the answers. If there is an organization somewhere with a plan that’s working, he will study it and try to replicate it. “You can’t just plop one of these things somewhere in our region,” he says. “You have to gather data, make a plan. The bottom line is to set up the first Career Concourse, pilot it, tweak it and if it doesn’t work go back to the drawing board and refigure. It’s all in the planning stages right now.”
A year or two from now, Hamblin would like to be able to say that people within each target group — opportunity youth, veterans and formerly incarcerated — have found hope, employment and reasons to stay in Eastern North Carolina. “They have to walk the path,” he says. “But if we build the path and walk alongside them, the hope is they’ll find something they otherwise would not have had. And again that goes back to our work with youth. You have to have a mentor. This is truly a mission. You have to have a heart for it to be successful.” ■
— Kathy Blake is a writer from eastern North Carolina.
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