Whether you’re a high school senior looking for that first job after graduation or looking for a new career, upcoming events sponsored by the Kerr-Tar Regional Council of Governments could be just place to begin.

Business Services Manager Desiree Brooks and Youth Programs Coordinator & Equal Opportunity Officer Sharon Thomas discussed several resource and job fairs and other ongoing programs in the area designed to help people find employment.

D.N. Hix Gym in Oxford is the site of a resource and re-entry fair on April 12. In addition to Legal Aid representatives available to help individuals understand how to get their criminal records expunged, Department of Services representatives will be on hand, as well as GRRO, FGW Opportunities, the Family Resource Center, and Gang Free, Inc., public health officials and other programs designed to help with housing, transportation and food assistance.

Brooks said plans “are coming together very nicely” for this event, which is free and open to the public.

The Raleigh Road Outdoor Theatre is the site for an all-day hiring event targeting young adults on April 29. Brooks said 10 businesses have confirmed their participation. “We’re shooting for about 40 businesses and our business services team is working diligently to connect” with additional businesses,” Brooks said. They should have a complete list by the end of the week, she added.

“The morning is reserved for the region’s high school seniors,” Thomas explained. High school counselors and CTE teachers are helping to spread the word at their schools and get students registered to attend the event. The time exclusively for students is from 9:30 a.m. until 2:30 p.m.; the public is welcome to attend from 2 p.m. to 4 p.m., although the target audience is the 16-24 age group.

Visit www.kerrtarworks.com to learn more.

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The Kerr-Tar Council of Governments provides assistance to a cross-section of the community, and part of Beth Davis’s job as regional engagement specialist is to share information about what the agency can do for residents in the counties it serves

The local COG serves five counties – Vance, Granville, Franklin, Warren and Person – and Davis said Wednesday that there are programs and services that benefit individuals, municipalities as well as businesses.

“We are always very busy,” Davis told John C. Rose on Wednesday’s Town Talk. There are 16 COGs in the state which received $10 million to help with American Rescue Plan, and another $6 million in disaster, recovery, resilience and mitigation monies to assist in local pandemic recovery efforts.

The Kerr-Tar COG is doing things to make the community a better place to live, Davis said. And that’s something that she enjoys spreading the word about.

“We have a lot of great services and programs for folks in our counties. We’re not a secret,” she said, adding that there are a lot of services that are of great help to the community. “How can you not get excited about that?”

Individuals can get help from Kerr-Tar through a variety of programs – from getting help creating a job resume to taking part in a walking program for people with arthritis to improve physical health.

The NCWorks agency is a part of the local COG, Davis said, which helps to connect employers with qualified candidates. In addition to workforce staff in the Kerr-Tar office, there are three career centers where people looking for help with finding a job. The Oxford location is at Hilltop on Hwy 158, the Henderson location is on Beckford Drive and the Warren location is on the campus of VGCC in Warrenton.

Traditionally, January is a “big time of year when people are looking for a change. It’s a good time to contact the workforce development office” for help in finding a job, she said.

Individuals also can get guidance about resources for seniors through the Area Agency on Aging. The agency is looking to hire an aging specialist, she said, but resources include family caregiver support and an ombudsman to help family members who have complaints about facilities.

Municipalities can get help with grant-writing and the Kerr-Tar planning and economic development arm facilitates a wide range of issues, from providing diversity, equity and inclusion training to spotlighting the use of electric vehicles and other alternate transportation such as bicycle and pedestrian plans.

Visit www.kerrtarworks.org to find out more and to view the monthly newsletter that lists many of the opportunites and upcoming events in the COG service area. There’s also a very active and up-to-date Facebook page that contains details of events.

For those who prefer telephones to computers or social media. Davis said a simple call to the office at 252.436.2040 can get you connected to services and information.

Carbon footprints, fossil fuels and emissions reductions all are buzz phrases that are grabbing headlines these days and it can be dizzying to try to make sense of it all.

“Clean” transportation has nothing to do washing, waxing and detailing vehicles, as it turns out, and everything to do with types of fuels cars use and what gets released into the atmosphere.

Rick Sapienza is director of the clean transportation program of the N.C. Clean Energy Technology Center at N.C. State University. In his work, he drills down into the details of how to keep our air clean as we drive our vehicles for daily activities.

Beth Davis, regional engagement specialist with Kerr-Tar Council of Governments, is an education outreach partner that helps Sapienza spread the word about how to be good stewards and good drivers. Both  were guests on Thursday’s Town Talk to discuss how consumers can contribute in a positive way to reduce fuel consumption and keep more money in their pocket versus pumping gas into the tank.

Not everyone can just go out and purchase a new electric vehicle, Davis noted. Sapienza offered a list of options that consumers can do.

Eat lunch in your car with the engine on? Your car is getting 0 miles per hour when it idles, he reminded. “The way you drive and maintain that vehicle affects its fuel economy,” he said. Speeding reduces fuel economy as well, and it would be good for drivers to map out their errands to cut down on unnecessary driving.

Programs in place across the state like Clean Fuel Advanced Technology (CFAT) have paid off to improve air quality in the 16 years since its inception, Sapienza said. Funded through the federal Congestion Mitigation Air Quality program, he said that all 100 counties in North Carolina now are in compliance with clean air standards.

As technologies continue to be developed, more and more fuel choices will be available.

According to Sapienza, compressed natural gas (CNG) is a renewable natural gas that is growing in popularity. The City of Raleigh’s buses run on it, and the majority of that type of transportation on the West Coast runs on it as well.

Other transportation agencies have turned to hydrogen to fuel their longer routes. “They perform like champs,” Sapienza said. There are two ways to use the hydrogen – either to produce electricity or combust it.

Davis said there are apps for smartphones to help drivers locate charging stations for their electric vehicles. Although some are free to use, drivers must pay a fee to plug in. Technology advances are making it easier for vehicles to travel farther before needing to recharge.

A common complaint with electric vehicles is the high cost of the battery, but Sapienza said the price has been steadily coming down.

Davis said she got to drive an electric vehicle during a recent demonstration and said it made her think about the possibility of an EV for her next vehicle.

“What really caught my attention was the low maintenance cost,” she said. “And also not having to buy so much gas.”

Sapienza said EV’s may cost more at purchase, but considering the total cost of ownership – like not paying for oil changes, transmission work, and other costs – the cost over the lifetime of the vehicle is lower. “Within 5-10 years, we’ll be at price parity cost on the vehicle,” he predicted.

Efforts to further reduce emissions and further electrify the region are ongoing, Sapienza said. “There’s a tremendous investment,” he said. Globally, $577 billion has been committed in both the public and private sector – $143 billion in the U.S. alone – to adopt technologies that reduce fuel consumption and emissions.

Listen to the entire interview at wizs.com.