BridgeValley Community & Technical College receives over $1 million grant for green jobs training

A grant of $1,150,987 has been awarded to BridgeValley Community & Technical College so that the school can invest in skills training and education for jobs in green technology. This will improve opportunities for the community which has recently been impacted by layoffs in the coal industry. The grant has been provided under the EDA Public Works and Economic Adjustment Assistance Programs, such as CARES Act Funding, and will be parsed out over three years.

The money awarded by the grant will fund the WV Green Tech Jobs project, a generational opportunity focused on addressing equity, career mobility, and poverty in central West Virginia. The project provides BridgeValley Community & Technical College with the opportunity to improve the education, skills, and income of the population of the region, especially those areas most negatively affected by layoffs in the coal industry, as well as other legacy industries.

BridgeValley Community & Technical College has partnered with several local businesses, local and state economic development agencies, as well as the local workforce development board and system in order to immediately train 200 workers, and then as many as 900 workers over the course of the next few years. The project will work on training and retraining dislocated, underemployed, and unemployed workers, as well as workers who are new to the labor market in new green technology jobs that are appearing in the region.

In a release on BridgeValley’s website, the school’s president Casey Sacks talked about the grant, saying, "We are thrilled to receive this grant and grateful for the opportunity to provide skills training and employment in the green technology sector. This investment will have a positive impact on our community by creating new job opportunities and enhancing the skills of our workforce."

For more information about BridgeValley Community & Technical College can be found on the school’s website.