R-CCC receives Golden LEAF funding for community adult educational training centers

January 18, 2022

(AHOSKIE) Roanoke-Chowan Community College is the recipient of Golden LEAF Foundation funding for two projects totaling $778,200 to increase adult continuing education in the community.  A Universal Technical Training Center is being established on the college’s main campus in Hertford County, and the college is assisting the community education centers in Lewiston Woodville in Bertie County, Rich Square and near Conway in Northampton County.

“The Golden LEAF Board of Directors is pleased to support increased economic opportunity through workforce development in northeastern North Carolina,” said Scott T. Hamilton, Golden LEAF President, Chief Executive Officer. “These projects will help expand access to programs to build a ready workforce for available jobs in the region.”

Golden LEAF awarded $368,200 through the Community-Based Grants Initiative for the Universal Technical Training Center to provide funding for the renovation of an existing building on campus into a ‘state-of-the-art’ technical training center.  This center will continue many of the workforce training courses now offered at the college as well as add some new certification and diploma programs, according to R-CCC President Murray J. Williams.

“We are excited to announce the establishment of a new state-of-the-art technical training center which will serve as a hub for distance and hands-on learning to meet the needs of local business and industry in the Roanoke-Chowan area,” states President Williams.  “We appreciate the support from the Golden LEAF Foundation to help us meet workforce development needs locally and look forward to preparing students with industry-recognized credentials and certificates for productive careers in our area.”

The universal technical training center grant will also fund adult education for the new Lewiston Woodville Educational Vitality Center including funds for scholarships and transportation if travel to the main campus is required.

“The Universal Technical Training Center will allow us to partner with the community and NC Works Career Center at the college to increase access to training for unemployed community members including veterans,” explains Wendy Vann, dean of continuing education and workforce development. “The newly renovated center will offer short-term technical training and provide additional classrooms to offer new certification courses in addition to the commercial truck driver’s license training.”

Certification courses include the advanced manufacturing institute, facility maintenance, industrial arts, HVAC, plumbing and electrical, masonry, welding plate certification, and others.  A new certification and licensure course for commercial truck driver’s license was recently added at the college.  Plans are to serve 250 students over two years.

“The new training center will enhance the existing the courses we now offer and allow us to expand our scope of training to offer new classes to meet local needs,” concluded Vann.

Golden LEAF also awarded $410,000 through the Community-Based Grants Initiative to the college for adult continuing education in Northampton County.  New classes in allied health, commercial driver’s license (CDL), welding, and other workforce development classes will be offered at the site of the former dialysis center in Rich Square and at the former Northampton County High School East near Conway.  The former high school has been renovated into the new Northampton Career and Technical Academy of Innovation to serve students in southern Northampton County.

“R-CCC plans to offer several curriculum programs through the Career and College Promise Program (CCP) for the high school students at the Northampton Career Academy in January 2022,” said Dean Vann.

Funds will support building renovation, new equipment, supplies, instructors, scholarships, and transportation and the project expects to reach at least 150 students in the coming year.

An additional grant recently awarded to the college from USDA Rural Utilities Services provides the funding for distance learning equipment that will be placed in three community centers and three emergency medical services departments in Hertford, Bertie, and Northampton counties for adult continuing education. 

For more information about the degree, diploma, certificate, or continuing education programs at Roanoke-Chowan Community College, call Roanoke-Chowan Community College at 862-1200 or visit the website at www.roanokechowan.edu. 

The Golden LEAF Foundation is a nonprofit organization established in 1999 to receive a portion of North Carolina’s funding received from the 1998 Master Settlement Agreement with cigarette manufacturers.  For 20 years, Golden LEAF has worked to increase economic opportunity in North Carolina’s rural and tobacco-dependent communities through leadership in grantmaking, collaboration, innovation, and stewardship as an independent and perpetual foundation.