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V O L . X X I I I N O. X I M AY 1 5 , 2 0 1 7 16 R alph Jellison was in his early 50s when he lost his job with the closure of Verso Paper Corp.'s mill in Bucksport in April 2015. e Department of Labor's Rapid Response Team introduced him to retraining options, including a six-month program to learn fi ne woodworking at Eastern Maine Community College in Bangor. He always liked wood- working, and the program's short duration seemed likely to get him working soon. Jellison joined a program with connections to furniture makers and boat builders. Chatting one day with other stu- dents, "I said, 'If Hinckley Yachts would hire me, I'd be down there in a minute," Jellison recalls. "Lo and behold, I get a call from Hinckley maybe two weeks prior to school getting out, asking me if I'd be interested in employment. I was like, 'Yeah!' When I got back to school, I asked if anyone else got a call from Hinckley … ere were fi ve or six of us who got called." Hinckley has 260 employees in Trenton and 350 in Maine. It has ongo- ing demand for workers skilled in fi ne woodworking, composite work and marine electrical systems. Jellison was hired by Hinckley in June 2016, and received further on-the-job training. He's since moved on to GAC Chemical in Searsport, where he could put his core skills in chemicals handling to work. e EMCC program, he says, was invalu- able in helping him land work during a diffi cult period. "I can't say enough good things about Eastern Maine's trade school," he says. "It's just phenomenal — the instructors for one thing, and they have a good program and good equipment." Addressing Maine's workforce needs Such outcomes are part of the Maine Community College System's mission, through its seven community colleges, to address Maine's workforce needs. at's accomplished through two-year associ- ate degree programs, one-year occu- pational certifi cates and, like EMCC's carpentry program, customized training in conjunction with business. "Our job is to provide education and training that meets the changing needs of the Maine economy," says MCCS President Derek Langhauser. "Right now, with the pressures of the workforce and low unemployment and changes in demographics, businesses are screaming for skilled workers." To address that need, MCCS is constantly aligning programs with changing industry needs. It now seeks to expand outreach to business and add more customized and one-year occupa- tional certifi cates. In 2016, 133 businesses and organizations contracted with com- munity colleges to provide specialized training to some 2,000 people. " e challenge is the changes are coming more quickly and substantially than in the past," Langhauser says. To address that challenge, virtu- ally every occupational program is informed by industry advisors, who help MCCS keep up with new tech- nologies; some also instruct. At Hinckley, which builds high- end, customized production yachts in Trenton, General Manager Andy Fitzpatrick has chaired the indus- try advisory committee for EMCC's Building Construction and Fine Woodworking Technologies since its inception about four years ago. "We recognized that we needed to fi nd skilled workers to meet growing business demands," says Fitzpatrick. "We also knew everyone who graduated from the program wouldn't necessarily be able to be hired by Hinckley. So we reached out to other businesses we knew also need woodworking people," includ- ing Windham Millwork and Auburn- based furniture maker os. Moser. P H O T O / T I M G R E E N WAY JOB TRAINING Maine Community College System syncs with businesses to get people working B y L a u r i e S c h r e i b e r F O C U S Derek Langhauser, president of the Maine Community College System, in the Southern Maine Community College Campus Center in South Portland

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