Project Uplift helps underprivileged

BRUNSWICK COUNTY — A partnership between Brunswick Community College and Countywide Community Development Corporation is giving underprivileged people the opportunity to succeed.

Not too long ago Nia Perkins was unemployed, without a car, and living with her two children in her parents’ house.

Project Uplift graduate Perkins said, “Life was more or less trying to get out there trying to find a job without means of transportation.”

She read a newspaper ad for Project Uplift, a ten-week program offering classes and hands-on training in construction, computers, finance, and other fields that prepare people for life in the real world.

Perkins said, “If I can go through a construction training class and finish, I can do anything.”

She graduated in April and now attends Shaw University and works as an administrative assistant at Countywide Community Development Corporation, who sponsors the program with Brunswick Community College.

Perkins said, “Countywide actually gave me a chance to show that I did have the skills and knowledge to put forth after coming out of Project Uplift.”

CCDC Human Resource Development representative Nekesha Randolph said, “Project Uplift is giving the students hope. It’s giving them the opportunity to develop a better quality of life.”

Since starting work Perkins bought a car and now has her own house to raise her children. Without Project Uplift she says life wouldn’t be the same.

“I probably would have seen myself more or less still depending on family, depending on the system, really feeling hopeless about it,” Perkins said.

More than 100 people have enrolled in Project Uplift since it started in 2006.

The program is funded through grants as well as money from Brunswick Community College’s human resource development.

To learn how to get involved call:

Nekesha Randolph
755-7407

Ronnie Jenkins
383-1724
620-1611