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Madisonville Community College’s (MCC) Lineman Training program is meeting the demand for electrical industry workers in Western Kentucky. In 2017, MCC was the recipient of a Delta Regional Authority (DRA) grant that provided resources for the creation of a lineman training program to serve the current and future employment and training needs of utilities companies and contractors in the Delta Region.
The grant totaled more than $180,000 and was met with more than $133,000 in additional public investment. The Lineman Training program allows utilities companies to recruit from the regional labor force, particularly targeting displaced coal miners — a growing population in the region — and high school graduates who do not intend to pursue a post-secondary credential.
Fast forward to 2019, and Webster County Fiscal Court received a DRA grant of $357,500 to purchase land to expand the utility lineman program, as well as other training programs for diesel mechanics and commercial driver’s licenses (CDLs). This new workforce center was built on property formerly owned by a coal mining company and serves students at MCC and Henderson Community College (HCC).
“The project entails the retrofitting or adaptive reuse of a former admin building for coal. When that mine shut down it had this extraordinary footprint of administrative offices just vacant,” said Joanna Shake, executive director of the Green River Area Development District (GRADD). “It was just a… perfect storm of circumstances where we were able to buy the property and then convert this wonderful space into lineman, CDL and diesel mechanic trainings.”
This project was a result of a collaborative effort between DRA, Webster County Fiscal Court, MCC, HCC, the Kentucky Department for Local Government and GRADD. The DRA investments were made through its States’ Economic Development Assistance Program, the agency’s main federal funding program that invests in basic public infrastructure, transportation infrastructure and workforce development.
The first graduating class in 2018 was four students. That number has grown to 16 students in 2023 enrollment. The eight-week program has a 99% completion rate and the average starting wage for graduates in 2024 is around $55,000.
“We are very proud and see that as an opportunity to advance our county and at the same time be able to help the region,” said Webster County Judge Executive Steve Henry. “With the facility, the college and these three programs, MCC will be able to offer it to more students.”
Western Kentucky, located in the Illinois Basin, ranks No. 6 in the Interagency Working Group on Coal and Power Plant Communities and Economic Revitalization’s (Energy Communities IWG) top 25 priority communities based on coal employment loss. Webster County was home to the Dotiki Mine complex for more than 50 years. The region heavily relied on the mine for jobs, economic stability and energy. When it closed in 2019, 200 people lost their jobs. Dotiki was a leading supplier of coal to Henderson Municipal Power and Light, which also closed its last coal-fired power plant in 2019.
The Energy Communities IWG is charged with advancing an interagency commitment of robust federal leadership in direct partnership with energy communities to foster economic investment and revitalization and ensure the creation of good-paying jobs. The Energy Communities IWG has identified billions of dollars in funding to support transitioning energy communities in reviving their economies for the future. Investments in projects such as the Madisonville Community College Lineman Training program help ensure new jobs and opportunities will become available in all pockets of America.