Caldwell Community College and Technical Institute’s efforts to develop a Centralized Advanced Manufacturing Center have received a financial boost from the Golden LEAF Foundation.
The $152,250 Golden LEAF grant will fund the purchase of two new pieces of equipment for the college’s Centralized Advanced Manufacturing Center – a coordinate measurement machine and a CNC (computer numerical control) turning center.
“We’re excited to continue the upgrade of our Advanced Manufacturing programs,” CCC&TI President Dr. Mark Poarch said. “The generous grant awarded by Golden LEAF will help ensure that our students are able to use the newest high-tech equipment, and will enable us to provide a higher level of training that will greatly benefit our local companies.”
The Centralized Advanced Manufacturing Center project will create state-of-the-art simulated work environments, designed to provide students with direct pathways to high-paying careers.
The nearly $1 million investment, which includes in-kind equipment donations from multiple industry partners, will provide high-tech training in the fields of Industrial Systems Technology, Electronics Engineering Technology, Electrical Systems, Mechanical Engineering Technology, Furniture Technology and Industrial Maintenance.
The project began in 2018 with the renovation of classrooms on campus and the addition of new high-tech equipment, including a CNC mill, CNC lathe, a CNC cutting machine and an industrial robot. The project’s second phase begins this summer and includes additional classroom and building improvements, along with the addition of new training equipment.
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 grantsmaking, collaboration, innovation, and stewardship as an independent and perpetual foundation.
The Foundation has provided lasting impact to tobacco-dependent, economically distressed and rural areas of the state by helping create 64,000 jobs, over half a billion dollars in new payrolls and more than 77,000 workers trained or retrained for higher wages.
