If you are unemployed and looking for work, the Tennessee Career Centers want to help you get the training you may need to be offered a job, perhaps a better one than you had before.

The nearest Tennessee Career Centers are at Walters State Community College in Greeneville, and in Morristown and Talbott in Hamblen County.

They are sponsored by the Tennessee Department of Labor and Walters State Community College's Center for Workforce Development (CWD).

What the Career Centers offer anyone seeking to upgrade his or her skills was described Thursday afternoon by Dr. Nancy Brown, dean of workforce development at Walters State Community College; Donna W. Stansberry, director of Work Investment Act (WIA) services at the Talbott Career Center, and Debbie Johnson, Career Center specialist at Walters State's Greeneville Center.

They were speaking to Randy Harrell, president of the Greene County Partnership and Drucilla Miller, dean of WSCC's Greeneville Center.

One of the Career Center programs is "The Incumbent Worker Training Program" which provides grant funding for customized training for businesses, a press release said.

"Through this customer driven program, Tennessee is able to effectively retain and keep businesses competitive through upgraded skills training for existing full-time employees."

The maximum grant to a company is $100,000, with a $25,000 required match from the company.

Another program Walters State will be administering is a "Summer Jobs for Youth" grant of approximately $2.1 million which will provide summer jobs for 800 youths from low-income families within a 10-county region of Northeast Tennessee.

The college has also received more than $1.7 million for programs to assist adult and disclocated workers through the Center for Workforce Development (CWD) and Workforce Investment Act (WIA) offices in Tennessee Career Centers.

Similarly, Walters State Community College is using funds from the 2009 Recovery and Reinvestment Act, recently passed by Congress, to train the area's dislocated workers and provide summer jobs for low-income youth.

"These funds are in keeping with one of the missions of community colleges to provide workforce training," according to Dr. Wade McCamey, president of Walters State.

"We are eager to put these funds to work and, in partnership with the Tennessee Technology Center and other training providers, make sure area workers have the skills needed to compete in today's global economy," McCamey said.

The Center for Workforce Development (CWD) administers the federal Workforce Investment Act (WIA) in a 10-county area of Northeast Tennessee that includes Greene County.

Johnson said the Greeneville Center has been seeing between 100 to 200 people a month, most of them middle-aged persons who have been laid off and are looking for work, or for courses they can take to help them find a job.

The Career Center in Morristown is on the campus of Walters State Community College in the Clifford H. "Bo" Henry Center for Business and Technology.

The Career Center in Talbott is located in the Alpha Square Shopping Center on West Andrew Johnson Highway in Hamblen County.

The Greeneville, Morristown and Talbott centers each offer a resource lab with computers, printers and fax machines that job-seekers can use at no charge.

The centers also can provide information about possible assistance from the Tennessee Department of Labor and Workforce Development, the Division of Vocational Rehabilitation, Tennessee Technology Center, Adult Education Program, Walters State Community College and Workforce Investment.

The Tennessee Career Center in Talbott's May schedule is:

* Internet/E-mail Basics - May 5, 2 to 4 p.m.

* Employability Skills 1 (includes conflict management, teambuilding techniques and work ethics) - May 6, 9:30 a.m. to noon.

* Employability Skills 2 (includes customer service techniques, job hunting via the telephone and career networking techniques ) - May 20, 9:30 a.m. to noon.

* Computer Literacy - May 7, 1 to 4 p.m. or May 19, 4 to 7 p.m.

* Job Readiness Series 1 (includes goal-setting, time management, stress management and interpersonal skills) - May 12, 1 to 4 p.m.

* Job Readiness Series 2 (includes Internet job search, career portfolios and more) - May 14, 1 to 4 p.m.

* Computer Literacy Keyboarding/Typing Tutorial - May 13, 9 to 11 a.m.

* Computer Literacy/Mouse Practice - May 19, 3:30 to 4 p.m.

* Computer Literacy/Electronic Slides - May 21, 4 to 7 p.m.

* Computer Literacy/Spreadsheets - May 26, 4 to 7 p.m.

* Resume Lab - May 6, 13, 20 and 27, 2 to 4 p.m.

A year ago, Dr. Brown announced the Center for Workforce Development (CWD) at WSCC would fill at least part of the void created when the Tennessee Department of Labor and Workforce Development closed its Tennessee Career Center in Greeneville on Aug. 31.

When the Greeneville center closed, Debbie Johnson, the Career Center specialist with the Center for Workforce Development, moved across College Street into the building of the Walters State Greeneville-Greene County Center for Higher Education.

The local Career Center at WSCC has reopened to the public, but only on Mondays and Wednesdays. It is reached by entering the WSCC building from North Main Street and going to the second floor.

All Career Center services are free to anyone who is at least 18 years old.

A complete list of workshops is available at www.ws.edu or by calling the centers.

Reservations are required to attend workshops.

For more information or to make a reservation, call the Career Center in Greeneville at 638-3187, the Career Center at Morristown at (423) 318-2341, or the Career Center at Talbott at (423) 317-1078.