Big River Steel Equals Big Opportunities

It hasn’t hit us yet, but in the next three months, a name we haven’t heard much will likely become a household term in eastern Arkansas – Big River Steel. If the company’s financing falls into place as most expect, Big River Steel LLC will become a fixture in, and make a huge economic impact on, our region.

Big River Steel is a $1 billion “mini mill” project that will employ about 2,000 construction workers at the height of the building process and more than 500 permanent workers when it is complete. So what possessed the company to select a site near a Mississippi County town that has a population of around 7,800 on a good day? They settled on Osceola partly because they found affordable property, relatively cheap utilities, and easy access to the Mississippi River. But Osceola is certainly not the only place in the world that can offer those benefits, so that’s only a piece of the story.

One of the major reasons Big River Steel chose Osceola is because that location puts them almost equidistant between two institutions that are part of the award-winning Arkansas Delta Training and Education Consortium which has built a national workforce development reputation. Big River knew they needed a ton of labor, and they knew they needed a group of people who could get them that labor fast. They also knew ADTEC could meet their needs, so proximity to two members of the consortium was a very big part of the location rationale.

ADTEC members, especially Mid-South Community College and Arkansas Northeastern College, are going to be asked very soon to displace some of their existing programs and create an industry-relevant construction training model. If all goes according to the plan, we’ll be training as many as 600 local people using a fast-track curriculum designed in collaboration with Big River Steel to prepare them for the construction jobs.

While construction jobs will be temporary (18-20 months), they will provide additional employment opportunities for those who excel.  The people putting this steel mill effort together have shown a historic willingness to hire construction crew members to work at their mills once the building process is complete. Steel workers are projected to make about $75,000 a year, and the facility could employ as many as 525 full-time workers. That adds up to many great employment opportunities for the people of eastern Arkansas.

At MSCC, we will begin working with our students to teach them the desired skills and competencies so that we can provide a steady stream of potential employees – not just onesies and twosies, but hundreds. Big River Steel will then have the opportunity to pick and choose the cream of the crop. Our future is only as bright as our ability to create a trained workforce, and our ability to create a trained workforce is exponentially increased by our ability to bring larger numbers of students into our programs more consistently.

Thanks to Big River’s decision to locate in our area, we also have additional good news. As many as four other companies that could total 2,000 employees collectively have already said they’re coming to our region because of the steel mill project.

Our goal is to help Big River and other business make money and grow more jobs in our region. When companies are making money, good stuff happens, and we are prepared to maximize our efforts to keep that good stuff going. At the end of the day, we’ll have the opportunity to help a lot of students who otherwise were just destined to go in circles with little hope for the future.

- See more at: http://www.midsouthcc.edu/blog/big-river-steel-equals-big-opportunities/#sthash.q29pEW0S.dpuf

It hasn’t hit us yet, but in the next three months, a name we haven’t heard much will likely become a household term in eastern Arkansas – Big River Steel. If the company’s financing falls into place as most expect, Big River Steel LLC will become a fixture in, and make a huge economic impact on, our region.
Big River Steel is a $1 billion “mini mill” project that will employ about 2,000 construction workers at the height of the building process and more than 500 permanent workers when it is complete. So what possessed the company to select a site near a Mississippi County town that has a population of around 7,800 on a good day? They settled on Osceola partly because they found affordable property, relatively cheap utilities, and easy access to the Mississippi River. But Osceola is certainly not the only place in the world that can offer those benefits, so that’s only a piece of the story.
One of the major reasons Big River Steel chose Osceola is because that location puts them almost equidistant between two institutions that are part of the award-winning Arkansas Delta Training and Education Consortium which has built a national workforce development reputation. Big River knew they needed a ton of labor, and they knew they needed a group of people who could get them that labor fast. They also knew ADTEC could meet their needs, so proximity to two members of the consortium was a very big part of the location rationale.
ADTEC members, especially Mid-South Community College and Arkansas Northeastern College, are going to be asked very soon to displace some of their existing programs and create an industry-relevant construction training model. If all goes according to the plan, we’ll be training as many as 600 local people using a fast-track curriculum designed in collaboration with Big River Steel to prepare them for the construction jobs.
While construction jobs will be temporary (18-20 months), they will provide additional employment opportunities for those who excel.  The people putting this steel mill effort together have shown a historic willingness to hire construction crew members to work at their mills once the building process is complete. Steel workers are projected to make about $75,000 a year, and the facility could employ as many as 525 full-time workers. That adds up to many great employment opportunities for the people of eastern Arkansas.
At MSCC, we will begin working with our students to teach them the desired skills and competencies so that we can provide a steady stream of potential employees – not just onesies and twosies, but hundreds. Big River Steel will then have the opportunity to pick and choose the cream of the crop. Our future is only as bright as our ability to create a trained workforce, and our ability to create a trained workforce is exponentially increased by our ability to bring larger numbers of students into our programs more consistently.
Thanks to Big River’s decision to locate in our area, we also have additional good news. As many as four other companies that could total 2,000 employees collectively have already said they’re coming to our region because of the steel mill project.
Our goal is to help Big River and other business make money and grow more jobs in our region. When companies are making money, good stuff happens, and we are prepared to maximize our efforts to keep that good stuff going. At the end of the day, we’ll have the opportunity to help a lot of students who otherwise were just destined to go in circles with little hope for the future.
- See more at: http://www.midsouthcc.edu/blog/big-river-steel-equals-big-opportunities/#sthash.q29pEW0S.dpuf