WILMINGTON — ”North Carolina is home to more than 600,000 veterans,” Gov. Josh Stein noted during a visit to the Port City on Wednesday.
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The governor hosted a roundtable discussion at NCWorks, joined by numerous elected officials, including Rep. Deb Butler, County Commissioner Chair Bill Rivenbark and Mayor Bill Saffo. Business owners and veterans, and people from state and local organizations who have boots on the ground connecting the local work sector and veterans with job opportunities also were in attendance.
Stein campaigned on creating more support and opportunities for veterans and their families during his 2024 gubernatorial bid, calling on the Tar Heel State to become the “most veteran-friendly” in the nation, which he reiterated Wednesday. For Stein, this includes having better access to jobs, job training, affordable housing, health care and starting small businesses post military service.
“North Carolina has so much going for us,” he said. “We’re one of the best states in the country to do business and that’s because of our people. This workforce facility, NCWorks, serves as a matchmaker between businesses who need new employees and people who want new jobs or a career.”
On Wednesday, he told media workforce development will be a critical focus during his governorship. He plans to allocate funds toward it in his next budget, though didn’t go into details and said more information should be released in the coming weeks.
Around 17,000 veterans live in New Hanover County and the local NCWorks — one of 80 career centers in North Carolina — helps roughly 3,000 people monthly. It offers free services to job seekers needing career assessment and guidance, training and educational opportunities, resume building and job search placement. The organization also has multiple partnerships with nonprofits, local businesses and area community colleges, to help employers find people best-suited in their fields.
“We ask every person who comes through the door if they’re a veteran,” Brian Jackson, the deputy director for the Cape Fear Council of Governments, told the governor as he toured the 17th Street facility. “But not everyone self-identifies.”
Cape Fear Council of Governments is involved with NCWorks through the Cape Fear Workforce Development Board. The board works with NCWorks Career Centers and the North Carolina Department of Commerce’s Division of Workforce Solutions as well.
Victor Glover, COO of the workforce solutions division at NCDC, praised its staff, 20% of whom are dedicated to working with veterans only. The training they undergo focus on mental health, PTSD, sexual trauma and substance abuse; the goal is to create a holistic approach to help break down barriers in finding employment.
“We do a lot more than just help folks find a job,” Glover said. “That’s our focus, that’s our purpose, but when we do see those stumbling blocks or barriers to appointment, as we call them, on our side of the house, then we make those additional services.”
This was echoed by Monte Suggs, a veteran’s career advisor with NCWorks. He said the team serves a cross-sector of people.
“Some of them may even be homeless,” Suggs said.
He also has worked with people in Veterans Treatment Court, a place for veterans facing substance use, mental health, or co-occurring disorders.
“It is able to get them proper mentors that may have different sanctions that they have to go through to make sure they stay coherent with the plans, but it’s a step process, and so we work with them in order to help get jobs,” Suggs said. “We make sure we can get them transitioned properly, over to jobs and different careers. But they don’t want a job — they want a career to provide for their families.”
Andrea Allard — a retired U.S. Army specialist of military intelligence, linguist interrogator and psychological warfare specialist — serves as the director of transition services with the North Carolina Department of Military and Veteran Affairs. She noted NCWorks is their primary partner for employment opportunities.
“Very often, families are not counted,” she said, explaining she also cares for her husband, a 100% disabled Camp Lejeune Marine and thus bears witness to the “whole life cycle” of serving in the military and exiting before joining the workforce. “Never forget, we don’t serve alone. In many cases, women veterans are not even in the conversation.”
Allard said she connects people to the NCWorks veterans portal to assess their military occupational specialty. This shows what careers best align with their personalized skillset.
Suggs agreed people, particularly women, identifying as military is often the first challenge the team faces. There is reluctancy, but because NCWorks has partnerships with veteran-friendly businesses, it helps the team to know someone’s background to be more effective in employer introductions.
Suggs boasted veterans bring real-life traits that translate well in the workforce, including leadership, teamwork, integrity, overcoming adversity, working under pressure, accredited learning curves and more.
An employer and veteran were in attendance as well Wednesday, showcasing the success of NCWorks. Bill Ciccone, who owns the manufacturing company Microsolv — which exports globally scientific chemistries and apparatus — has made hires from NCWorks.
He praised Marcell Hatten, NCWorks Wilmington’s career center manager, who visited Microsolv to effectively understand the culture of the workplace before suggesting someone to fill a position: Marine Jonathan Gilbert.
“He really convinced me that that’s who we should be hiring,” Ciccone said, noting it was the right move.
Gilbert, who lives in Holly Ridge, exited the military in 2011 and worked in IT but said he lost his job unexpectedly. He was enduring a divorce, had child support payments and was considering going back to school.
“But that’s really hard to do when you don’t have an income,” Gilbert said, noting he met Hatten after visiting the Wilmington NCWorks center, a secondary stop after receiving less-than-stellar help from the Jacksonville location.
“Thank you for your persistence,” Stein said.
“I had been working for a large company — a corporate infrastructure — and was just completely disenfranchised with it,” Gilbert explained.
Hatten — also a U.S. Marine for three decades — suggested Ciccone’s company, but Gilbert said he was hesitant since the job had an IT facet to it and he was looking to exit the field entirely.
Hatten, who is required to spend a certain amount of time in the field to get to know companies and employers, said the fit seemed a good match so he kept pursuing it. And he was right.
“Going to a smaller company where they take care of their employees was important to me,” Gilbert said, noting he is happy at Microsolv and the encouragement he received to take the interview.
Ciccone said NCWorks also led him to other training opportunities and information to help him on the entrepreneurial side.
“North Carolina offers quite a bit to small businesses where I actually feel important,” Ciccone said.
The state has tracked in the top three for business in the last five years, according to CNBC. In 2024 it fell behind Virginia from first place to second.
“What’s holding us back and making us even more successful?” Stein asked Jim Flock, chair of the nonprofit Cape Fear Workforce Development Board.
Flock said awareness of services offered, such as at NCWorks, is the biggest impediment. While many understand the program helps people find jobs, offerings that help companies reach growth often fly under the radar.
“They’re working in their own silo,” Flock said of employers who often go to job-applying sites only.
Ciccone admitted when Flock first informed him of NCWorks he was skeptical, thinking it would cost a lot of money. But the service to post jobs, access candidate matching tools, search info from the labor market, and receive referrals are free. Its on-the-job training also offers employers between 50% to a 75% reimbursement.
“We are gonna grow our business and we’ll be hiring more people over the next five years,” Ciccone said of the program.
Flock added collaboration with Cape Fear Community College, Brunswick Community College and Southeastern Community College have been helpful with programming that boosts the workforce. He pointed to CFCC, which has added programs recently to bolster the manufacturing job sector.
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