SANFORD - U.S. President Barack Obama's announcement of a plan that would make two years of community college as free and universal as high school appears to be in line with Central Carolina Community College's Central Carolina Works program.

"President Obama's America's College Promise proposal indicates that CCCC was ahead of the game with the implementation of its Central Carolina Works program," says CCCC Board of Trustees Chairman Julian Philpott.

CCCC President Dr. Bud Marchant agreed. "We already are kind of ahead of the game with Central Carolina Works," says Marchant. "It really does fit right in."

Central Carolina Works (CCW) is an educational initiative by a consortium including Central Carolina Community College, education (Chatham County Schools, Harnett County Schools, and Lee County Schools), business, industry, and community leaders.

CCW funds the placement of career and college advisors in each of the public high schools in Chatham, Harnett, and Lee counties. These advisors work one-on-one with students to help them take advantage of the state-funded Career and College Promise (CCP) program.

CCP enables high school students to enroll, tuition-free, in college credit courses that also apply toward their high school diploma. By the time they graduate from high school, they have a jump-start on their career or college education.

Kirk Bradley, Chairman, President & C.E.O. of Lee-Moore Capital Company, who spearheaded the intensive fund-raising to launch the CCW initiative, says that President Obama's proposal is a wonderful bi-partisan way to boost economic development in the United States.

"The citizens of Chatham, Harnett and Lee counties recognized the importance of encouraging its high school students to pursue further skills and credentials necessary to be competitive in the 21st Century global economy through the creation of CC Works in 2013," says Bradley. "By having advisors in the high schools, CC Works is able to help students and their families learn about the careers available with further education and get started while they are in high school through Career and College Promise.

"If the President is successful in working with Congress to get this proposal funded, that will ensure that more Lee, Chatham and Harnett students will be able to complete their post high school diploma education path of choice," says Bradley.

"Dr. Marchant has been a leader in recognizing the need for a K-14 system to help both students become gainfully employed and local economies to have a prepared workforce. He has been espousing this for some time and it culminated in CC Works being pursued starting in 2012. I'm glad to see the rest of the country catching up to his vision!"

Philpott says if a federal program is implemented, hopefully, it will mean that federal funding will be available to assist CCCC with its CC Works program.

"I believe this proposed initiative clearly demonstrates a recognition that community colleges provide excellent educational value and that initiatives such as CCCC's CC Works program is an innovative approach to providing outstanding educational and workforce development value to the communities served by community colleges like CCCC," says Philpott.

Marchant says the proposed initiative "will help us globally be very competitive."

For more information on Central Carolina Community College, visit www.cccc.edu or call 919-775-5401.