Lot of opportunities for education and job skills at MGCCC

August 13, 2020

COVID-19 has changed life for all of us especially those who have lost their jobs or income this year, but there are plenty of opportunities to learn new job skills while earning college credit and working towards a degree at Mississippi Gulf Coast Community College.

Times are changing in the COVID world as evidenced by job cuts and those looking for work right here in our area, but there is hope and alternate pathways thanks to several new programs at MGCCC. Executive Vice President of Student Services and Enrollment Management Dr. Phil Bonfanti said, “One of the programs we’re doing is the Reskills Program the Governor announced last week. Basically what that program is designed to do is to help people who find themselves unemployed through no fault of their own, to gain some essential skills to help get them back to work. We’re targeting several programs, and they’re free. They’re all being paid for through CARES money through the state.”

Then there’s the Fresh Start program. “Basically we’re going to pay $800 dollars of a students’ cost to come back and take classes with us. We have all these career tech programs out there- 50-plus programs, and there are quite a number of those positions, they did not stop working. They were essential workers. What the Reskills program and the Fresh Start program is about is getting people who may be found themselves unemployed through no fault of their own to get an essential skill, to get a job that’s not going away during the pandemic.”

MGCCC leaders say enrollment is going strong as the health and safety officer makes last minute checks. “High Flex is also part of our safety operations plan. It talks about all the things we’re doing to help keep students safe, from asking them to do self-screenings to requiring social distancing and face coverings to cleaning throughout our campus. All of our staff has been trained on that.”

The High Flex program gives the option to do class online or in person. There’s also an additional $1,000 a semester available to students through C2C OR Compete to Complete grants for all students, but time is running out to sign on. The fall semester begins on site August 20^th. Online and Reskill courses launch on August 24^th.

MGCC has ten locations serving four South Mississippi counties: George, Harrison, Jackson and Stone counties.

For more information visit mgccc.edu.