LUMBERTON — Robeson Community College has received $180,000 from the Golden LEAF Foundation, one of 17 grants totaling more than $3 million for job training that the organization recently distributed to community colleges across the state.

RCC will use the money for career training programs in the areas of certified nursing assistant, medical office administration, medical coding and billing, office technician/customer support, heavy equipment operation and basic law enforcement. The college is partnering with area businesses to make job placements available to students in the program.

The awarding of the 17 grants came during Golden LEAF’s June Board meeting.

The Golden LEAF board of directors created a $3.5 million grant program for short-term, non-degree workforce development training projects that target identified employment opportunities in tobacco-dependent, economically distressed and rural communities.

Many of the projects provide support for Gov. Bev Perdue’s JobsNOW: 12 in 6 program currently being developed at community colleges across the state to promote training in six months or less for 12 in-demand jobs.

Funded with American Recovery and Reinvestment Act dollars, the 12 in 6 program is a collaboration between the N.C. Community Colleges and the N.C. Department of Commerce as part of Gov. Perdue’s larger JobsNOW initiative, which focuses on job creation and economic development.

“The GLOW program is right in line with the mission of the Foundation,” said Dan Gerlach, Golden LEAF president. “Gov. Perdue and the General Assembly have challenged us to be creative about how to get people into jobs quickly so the support of the JobsNOW effort was a great fit. Our aim for the GLOW project is to grow the talent, knowledge and skill of North Carolinians so that they may find gainful employment in the current economy.”

The expected outcome of GLOW and JobsNOW projects is the eligibility of trainees for placement in permanent, full-time jobs requiring skills in vocational and trade occupations.

“This funding by Golden LEAF represents the perfect marriage between our community colleges and the Foundation,” said R. Scott Ralls, president of the state Community College System.

The Golden LEAF Foundation is a nonprofit established in 1999 to help transform North Carolina’s economy. The foundation receives one-half of North Carolina’s funds from the 1998 Master Settlement Agreement with cigarette manufacturers and places special emphasis on assisting tobacco-dependent, economically-distressed and/or rural communities across the state.

For information, or to learn more about applying for a grant, visit www.goldenleaf.org.