Business Briefs
BUSINESS PROFILE
Joint Ventures links campus, community
in order to better meet industry's demands
By ROBIN BARKSDALE
Chronicle Staff Writer
Members of the business community and the academic arena are joining
forces to offer an innovative program designed to help meet the areas educa
tional needs.
Joint Ventures, an outreach program of the Winston-Salem State Universi
ty Office of Continuing Education, links resources provided by private consul
tants, University of North Carolina system institutions and the business com
munity. The objective of Joint Ventures is to establish a stronger labor and
^ management pool to better meet the demands of industries and the corporate
structure. The WSSU continuing education director said Joint Ventures reaf
firms the university's commitment to community outreach. '
"One of the roles of the university is to broaden community services," said
Michael Callaghan, director of extended education at the university. "These are
changing times" in Winston-Salem, and the university is looking for ways to
better support the community and its economic growth and development."
Under the program, businesses and industries indicate the areas in which
they need workers trained. The Joint Ventures staff then matches those busi
nesses^ with resources that can provide services directly suited to the compa
nies' needs. Also, Joint Ventures solicits businesses to help in providing train
ing in areas requested by continuing education participants.
Mr. Callaghan said that if a business has a group of employees that needs
to be further trained in computer work, for instance, the Joint Ventures program
could make arrangements for the course to be available by linking members of
the resource pool. .
"We find people through the American Society of Training and Develop
ment that could provide relative training and educational services to the com
munity as needed," Mr. Callaghan said "This program is all about the pulling
together and assessment of various resources available."
Mr. Callaghan said Joint Ventures will not limit the courses available
through its program and will search out resources to offer training in whatever
areas are needed.
He said the concept of Joint Ventures is not new, and that it has operated in
some form for several years. But, he said, the program staff and the university
officials have committed themselves to making Joint Ventures a working part
of the community.
"We're sort of recognizing that we have been doing this type of program,"
said Mr. Callaghan. "This is part of the continuing education program, and
when people hear 'continuing education' they think in terms of people who
have come back to school or people who have gone to school and are returning
and may not be full-time. But we realized that they're not the only ones who
need these types of things provided by Joint Ventures. We're in an information
age, and people increasingly are recognizing that education is not something
that is ever finished. When you think about the fact that the first computers and
the first VCR cameras-werejauUll 1977, you're amazed at how much they've
changed since that time. Things are constantly changing and we have to keep
training to keep up with what skills are required."
Mr. Callaghan said that the economic future of Winston-Salem could
depend on the type of workforce that it is able to offer new and existing indus
tries. Oftentimes, he said, companies considering relocating to a particular
areas conduct demographic studies on the populations in those areas. If the
training of the residents is compatible with the needs of the business, the site
will be given heavy consideration.
"When Hived in Illinois, a major company relocated to one of the small
suburbs because when they investigated they found that there was a large pool
? ? ? ? ? ? B? ? 1 ?
Photo by Mike Cunningham
Michael Callaghan, director of extended education at WSSU,
says that the university is "looking for ways to better support
the community and its economic growth and development."
of people trained in the areas that were needed by their company," Mr.
Callaghan said. "If we expect to attract industries to the city and surroundings
area, we've got to have a trained labor force available to those industries. Our
labor market has got to be one that will be an attribute to the community. That
way we can encourage industries and companies to come in and stay in. We
can't afford to have companies come in and leave, possibly because they can't
find enough trained people."
NEW YORK - Ten distin
guished and diverse Afro- Americans
were honored recently by the Nation
al Coalition of 100 Black Women at
their seventh annual Candace (Can
day-say) Awards, held at the
Metropolitan' Museum of Art in New
York City.
The event, sponsored by AT&T,
honored for their significant and var
ied accomplishments.
"This year's Candace awardees
are symbolic of the outstanding lega
cy of Afro-American achievement
and talent that has graced America,"
said Jewell Jackson McCabe, presi
dent of NCBW and producer of the
awards program. "Candace,. the
AT&T. "We have a long-standing
commitment to diversity in our work
force, and women have played a cru
cial role," said David Cannady,
AT&T national consumer market
manager. "The Candace Awards
identify a variety of positive role
models for our youth."
AT&T, in cooperation with a
Winners All!
The National Coalition of 100 Black Women has honored 10 Afro-Americans for various and sig
nificant accomplishments at the seventh Candace Awards. Pictured are, from left: back row,
Ntozake Shange, author, Maya Angelou, poet, and Geoffrey Holder, actor and costume designer;
front row: Janet Collins, prima ballerina, Carmen de Lavallade, dancer and wife of Geoffrey Hold
er, Charlayne Hunter-Gault, news anchor, John H. Johnson, founder of Johnson Publishing,
Jewell Jackson McCabe, president of NCBW, Benjamin Hooks, president of the NAACP, and
Suzanne de Passe, president of Motown Productions.
honored women ranging from a
member of the National Security
Council to the first black prima bal
lerina to grace the stage at the
Metropolitan Opera House. All were
ancient Ethiopian title for empress or
queen, serves as a constant reminder
of black female power."
Ms. McCabe welcomed the
awards' new corporate sponsor,
group of business leaders called the
New York City Partnership, made it
possible for 30 students from George
Washington and Morris high schools
to attend the awards as special guests
to meet the distinguished Candace
awardees.
Mistress of ceremonies Maya
Angelou mesmerized the audience as
she read some of her most inspiring
poems, which served as a reminder
of Afro-American heritage.
All of the honorees told of how
they overcame obstacles to achieve
their varied accomplishments. Gina
Barclay-McLaughlin, director of the
Center for Successful Child Devel
.. opment and the awardee for commu
she, but all her 10 brothers and sis
ters went on to college from an
impoverished background. Janef"
Collins, the awardee for arts, spoke
of her breakthrough as the first black
_ artist to appear at the Metropolitan
Opera House, and of the many dance
awards she received during her long
career. Carolyn Craven, host of the
PBS show "South Africa Now" and
the awardee for journalism, used her
acceptance speech as an opportunity
to speak out against apartheid, and to
underscore the fact that the show's
perspective is of black South
Africans.
The Candace Award for Distin
guished Service went to John H.
Johnson, founder of Johnson Pub
lishing and Ebony magazine. Now
one of the wealthiest men in Ameri
ca, Mr. Johnson recalled how his
family was once on welfare: "Yes, I
was on welfare once, but I got off!"
His comment brought nods of under
standing from the audience.
Suzanne de Passe, president of
Motown Productions, was moved to
tears upon receiving the group's
Trailblazer Award. "I'm an only
child, but because of the Coalition, I
now have many, many sisters."
Others honored include: Dr.
Condoleezza Rice, director for Euro
pean and Soviet affairs on the
National Security Council, interna
tional affairs; Mary Lee Widener,
president and CEO of Neighborhood
Housing Services of America Inc.,
economic development; Beverly
Guy-Sheftall, director of Women's
Research at Spelman College, educa
tion; Margaret Walker Alexander,
successful -author, letters, and Dr.
Patricia Cowings, research psycholo
gist and Investigator at NASA's
Ames Research Center, science.
Guest presenters included Marti
na Bradford, vice president of exter
nal affairs, Eastern region; authors
Imamu Amiri Barak a, Paula Gid
dings and Ntozakc Shange; actor and
costume designer Geoffrey Holder
and his wife, dancer Carmen de
Lavallade; television news anchors
Sue Simmons of WNBC-TV, Rofan
da Watts of WABC-TV and Char
layne Hunter-Gault of WNET-TV;
Manhattan Borough President David
Dinkins and former Manhattan Bor
ough President Percy Sutton, founder
and chairman of Inner-City Broad
casting.
Entertainment was provided by
Sherry Winston, Grammy winner
Gerald Austin, former lead singer of
the Manhattans, and Stephanie Mills,
who dedicated "Home" from the
Broadway musical "The Wiz" --
which she starred in -- to mentor
Suzanne de. Passe.
After the awards presentation, a
reception was held in the Museum's
Egyptian Temple of Dendur, a most
fitting atmosphere for the guests to
meet and talk with the Candace hon
orees.
In Cooperation with
North Carolina Baptist Hospital
Miller-Motte Business College
Announces a new co.urse
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