McDonald Training Center makes training easy and efficient

March 28, 2016

The Hancock County Port and Harbor Commission can boast of a 10,000-square-foot training center at Port Bienville Industrial Park, a versatile facility where courses are provided through a partnership between HCPHC and Pearl River Community College.  

In 2010 HCPHC began accessing free and low-cost training courses for a consortium of industries, allowing them to jointly meet minimum enrollment requirements covered by Workforce Enhancement Training Funds.  (See February 2016 newsletter story for details on the WET funds and other training assistance for employers. https://portairspace.com/news/article/workforce-development-starts-early-in-hancock-county )

While WET funds training is funneled through Pearl River Community College, HCPHC supports the effort by handling many details of the training, which often include scheduling students, locating instructors when required, and funneling invoicing through its system to streamline the training process for its industries.  In just five years since the consortium program began, approximately 1,400 workers have completed 115 classes totaling 1,100 classroom hours.  

Available in the Training Center are two regular classrooms,1,400 square foot and 700 square foot, and two 700 square foot industrial training rooms with large door access directly outdoors to accommodate large equipment used for hands up training. These two spaces can be combined to increase industrial training area to 1,400 square feet.   

The training center has other amenities in addition to training, which include office suites and conference rooms available to start ups during construction of permanent facilities.

Adjacent to the Training Center is Hancock Medical Services, an onsite medical clinic offering general and occupational medicine services, including drug testing, post-hire baseline physicals and treatment for on the job injuries.  Hancock Medical Services is a satellite of Hancock Medical Center, a hospital which is a member of the world class Ochsner Health System.

The accommodating training center, consortium training program, and  medical clinic are some of the many ways that Hancock County demonstrates its commitment to offering first class service to its industries.  For more information about the David N. McDonald Training Center, please contact Janel Carothers, Development Director, at jcarothers@portairspace.com.