NECAC Program Draws National Attention

A job training apprenticeship program developed by the not-for-profit North East Community Action Corporation (NECAC) for its newly hired home weatherization employees has attracted the attention of two national organizations. 

NECAC Deputy Director for Housing Development Programs Carla Potts has been asked to share the development of the program with the National Association of State Community Service Programs and the National Community Action Partnership.  Both organizations are headquartered in Washington, D.C.

With a national increase in funding to the home weatherization program due to the $1.2 trillion bi-partisan infrastructure bill approved by Congress last November, Community Action Agencies and other non-profit weatherization agencies across the county will be gearing up and adding thousands of new employees.

Missouri expects to receive $73 to $80 million of those additional funds with NECAC’s projected contracted share with the State at $4.5 million.  NECAC is projecting they will add an additional 30 employees to do work at an estimated 500 additional homes in the agency’s 12 Missouri counties starting in July. 

“It is an honor for NECAC that these national organizations see us as a leader in our field, said NECAC President and Chief Executive Officer Don Patrick.  “Both Deputy Director Potts and NECAC Weatherization Program Director Joe Findley are doing terrific work to prepare our agency for the expansion of our weatherization program in the coming months.”

The newly designed job training apprentice program developed and coordinated by Potts is in partnership with the U.S. Department of Labor, Missouri Department of Labor, the Northeast Missouri Workforce Development Board, and Pike-Lincoln Technical Center.

The goal is to provide newly hired weatherization employees with skills that will allow them to work in a variety of construction and energy job fields.  It also is a way to reassure other non-profit weatherization agencies that they’re developing top qualified employees in this new challenging labor market.

Potts said she was asked to make the presentations to the national organizations because the apprentice program is a good example of an innovative response to barriers our fellow non-profit weatherization agencies will face in hiring so many new people.  She calls it a “practical approach to this new workforce challenges in the expanding national home weatherization program.”  The two national organizations will share and promote the program with over 1000 member agencies across the country.

The NECAC effort began in March 2021. So far, NECAC has hired and trained four new apprentice employees and the number is expected to rise this year. The program consists of 144 hours of classroom learning and 2,000 hours of on-the-job education.

Upon completion, the new employees will earn a Department of Labor certification as a home performance laborer. Northeast Workforce Development will recruit potential employees from schools and vocational programs.

More information is available by calling NECAC at 573-324-6622.