Emily Stover DeRocco Speech

Forsyth Technical Community College
Winston-Salem, North Carolina
Grant Announcement
Monday, June 9, 2003

Thank you, Chairman Glass, Dr. Green, and Congressman Burr. It is wonderful to be back here in North Carolina.

I was first introduced to Forsyth Technical Community College back in 2002 during an economic development forum sponsored by Congressman Richard Burr. At that time, I was joined by Commerce Assistant Secretary for Economic Development, David Sampson and we wanted to educate community leaders about federal resources, and how the Department of Labor's resources could be leveraged with private resources and used in an economic development strategy. Apparently, some people, including Congressman Burr, took some pretty good notes.

What brings me down here are not the great furniture outlets this area is known for…well, not entirely. I am here on behalf of Secretary of Labor Elaine L. Chao for two reasons, one of which I will elude to in the very near future. Plus, I am not to hold back good news for too long, so, I will just make a few quick points.

Your region of the state has been very innovative both in the community and the educational system. How could you not be with a hand-full of top-notch schools within arms reach? Your area produces some of the finest minds in the nation. Though, even with the finest minds, I recognize there are still challenges in your community. The Piedmont Triad Region continues to experience a decline in the furniture, textile, and tobacco industries, with an unemployment rate of just below 6 percent. However, schools like Forsyth Tech are taking the lead by becoming the driving force behind changing the area from being a predominantly manufacturing based community to a more technology based one. Essentially, you are giving the area an economic make-over.

Economic development in the 21st century also means knowing what the jobs are going to be and making sure you have skilled workers to attract industries with those jobs. The place with the best prepared workforce wins. But today there are jobs for people on every rung of the career ladder.

New industries are abounding, and the skills needed vary as much as the jobs out there. Biotechnology is an industry that is growing stronger each day. It's relatively new. It's ever-changing. It's exciting. The biotech field is another rapidly growing part of the economy. Did you know that between 1992 and 2001, the number of jobs in biotechnology doubled; biotech jobs will grow by 3 million between 2000 and 2010, with double-digit increases in jobs such as pharmaceutical manufacturing, biological technicians, and scientists.

In fact, I have been told that there are biotech employers who are ready to hire a hundred laboratory workers in the coming year, with future jobs expanding by the thousands.

Secretary Elaine Chao is committed to job creation and I am committed to job creation. Exciting new jobs are being created in an array of new industries and we can fill them with qualified individuals! How? By working with schools like Forsyth Technical Community College to develop training programs that will respond to the demands of the growing biotechnology industry that I referred to earlier. It is beginning right here…North Carolina…in Winston-Salem...at Forsyth Technical Community College.

We at the Department of Labor are very optimistic about the prospects of job creation, and my optimism stems both from passage of critical components of the President's Job and Growth plan last week and from my experience at the Department of Labor's Employment and Training Administration.

Now, believe it or not, I didn't just come with advice. No, I come from Washington, D.C. bringing good news and much congratulation. Without further ado, I would like to present Forsyth Technical Community College with a check in the amount of $754,146 to help establish a biotechnology Associate Degree training program that would be positioned to respond to the demands of the growing biotechnology industry in the region, and reduce the impact of employment dislocations resulting from the decline of the region's manufacturing industry.

And, now, it is my pleasure to introduce your Congressman, Richard Burr, who is a committed advocate for the people of North Carolina always focusing on the needs of his constituency and promoting economic vitality for a competitive community.

Thank you.