VGCC awarded $1.75 million Federal Grant for Training
Vance-Granville Community College will develop and enhance innovative training programs for advanced manufacturing careers with support from a new grant worth more than $1.75 million, awarded on Sept. 18 by the U.S. Department of Labor. The Trade Adjustment Assistance Community College and Career Training (TAACCCT) Grant is the single largest competitive grant award received in VGCC’s history.
U.S. Secretary of Labor Thomas E. Perez recently announced $474.5 million in such grants to community colleges and universities across the country. The grants are the third installment of the TAACCCT program, a multiyear, nearly $2 billion initiative to expand targeted training programs for unemployed workers, especially those impacted by foreign trade.
VGCC will receive a portion of grants totaling $12,665,720 awarded to the new Southeastern Economic and Education Leadership Consortium (SEELC), a partnership of six colleges led by Pellissippi State Community College , based in Knoxville, Tennessee. The other consortium members are Northeast State Community College (Blountville, Tennessee), Palm Beach State College (Lake Worth, Florida), Polk State College (Winter Haven, Florida), Randolph Community College (Asheboro) and VGCC. “Colleges in this consortium will interact and work collectively in a variety of ways that will allow each one to better serve their respective communities and populations,” said VGCC Dean of Continuing Education Dale Fey. The consortium is specifically focused on training adults for careers in welding, machining, electrical systems, electronics engineering and similar technical fields related to manufacturing. In order to match the skills being taught in college classrooms with those needed in local industries, VGCC has enlisted several area employers to collaborate on the new initiative: Altec Industries, Inc. of Creedmoor, P&G of Henderson, Bridgestone of Oxford and Glen Raven, Inc. of Norlina. The Kerr-Tar Workforce Development Board will also be a key partner.
“This grant represents an outstanding opportunity to develop our region’s workforce and to build upon our new strategic plan through service to our local workers and employers,” said Dr. Stelfanie Williams, president of VGCC. “Working together with businesses and community partners, we will be leading an effort to put people back to work in jobs that pay well and for which the demand is growing.” Williams added that dislocated workers, veterans and long-term unemployed adults will be among the students who will benefit from such expanded training over the next four years.
Colleges receiving TAACCCT grants can use funds to transform the way they schedule, sequence and deliver education and training programs that can be completed in two years or less. A variety of activities will be made possible, including: hiring or training instructors, leveraging online learning to accelerate skills attainment, developing new curricula and training models to add additional classes and certifications, purchasing new equipment to ensure students train on what employers actually use, designing new programs based on the input and needs of local employers, and expanding career pathways in which stackable credentials are linked to industry skills and lead participants to higher-skill jobs.
VGCC plans to seek approval from the N.C. Community College System for the addition of a Mechatronics Engineering Technology degree program, which would be supported by some of the grant funds. Mechatronics Engineering graduates are prepared for employment in industrial maintenance and manufacturing including assembly, testing, startup, troubleshooting, repair, process improvement, and control systems, and should qualify to sit for Packaging Machinery Manufacturers Institute (PMMI) mechatronics or similar industry examinations.
