The Mississippi Community College Board is designated as the primary support agency to the workforce development centers. The Mississippi Community College Board may exercise the following powers:
To provide the workforce development centers the assistance necessary to accomplish the purposes of this chapter;
To provide the workforce development centers consistent standards and benchmarks to guide development of the local workforce development system and to provide a means by which the outcomes of local services can be measured;
To develop the staff capacity to provide, broker or contract for the provision of technical assistance to the workforce development centers, including, but not limited to:
Training local staff in methods of recruiting, assessment and career counseling;
Establishing rigorous and comprehensive local preemployment training programs;
Developing local institutional capacity to deliver total quality management training;
Developing local institutional capacity to transfer new technologists into the marketplace;
Expanding the Skills Enhancement Program and improving the quality of adult literacy programs; and
Developing data for strategic planning;
To collaborate with the Mississippi Development Authority and other economic development organizations to increase the community college systems' economic development potential;
To administer presented and approved certification programs by the community colleges for tax credits and partnership funding for corporate training;
To create and maintain an evaluation team that examines which kinds of curricula and programs and what forms of quality control of training are most productive so that the knowledge developed at one (1) institution of education can be transferred to others;
To develop internal capacity to provide services and to contract for services from universities and other providers directly to local institutions;
To develop and administer an incentive certification program;
To develop and hire staff and purchase equipment necessary to accomplish the goals set forth in this section; and
To collaborate, partner and contract for services with community-based organizations and disadvantaged businesses in the delivery of workforce training and career information especially to youth, as defined by the federal Workforce Investment Act, and to those adults who are in low income jobs or whose individual skill levels are so low as to be unable initially to be aided by a workforce development center. Community-based organizations and disadvantaged businesses must meet performance-based certification requirements set by the Mississippi Community College Board.