Partnership isn’t just lip service in the Ark-Tex region.

A prime example of regional collaboration can be seen in an initiative among three colleges for a work­force development program that will serve several major industries with operations in the area.

Northeast Texas Community College in Mount Pleasant, Paris Junior College and Texarkana College have partnered with the Regional Advanced Manufacturing Academy Consortium, a 14-member industry group that includes Alcoa Mill Products, Campbell Soup Co., International Paper and Kimberly-Clark, to provide training for more than 700 workers.

A $1.26 million grant from the Texas Workforce Commission Skills Development Fund will help provide funding for the program.

The Skills Development Fund assists businesses and labor unions by financing the design and implementation of cus­tomized job training. The colleges worked for three years to secure the grant.

“This grant represents a partnership between three colleges and industry in this region that will provide training to improve the workforce within this part of the state. We’re ready to do whatever it takes to help the region’s industry, and we want to share our talent and expertise with those industries to boost economic development,” says Dr. Pamela Anglin, Paris Junior College president.

Training programs will run the gamut from welding certification to working with computerized devices that manufacturers use to automate production processes to instruction in radio frequency identification, the tags and equipment that are employed to speed up and simplify inventory management.

It’s not the first time the colleges have teamed up to meet a workforce need in the region. In 2005, for example, the three colleges were part of a consortium that came together to formulate a plan to ensure the region had a supply of trained health-care workers.