GTCC awarded $310,000 from the Golden LEAF Foundation

GTCC will use money from the Golden LEAF Foundation to build on its short-term construction and trade programs, including HVAC. These students are doing hands-on work in an HVAC class.

JAMESTOWN, N.C. (Feb. 27, 2024) – Guilford Technical Community College was recently awarded  $310,000 from the Golden LEAF Foundation to support its Workforce Continuing Education (WCE) construction and trade programs.

“The Golden LEAF Foundation is proud to support Guilford Technical Community College’s strategy to provide training for the workforce that will fill high-demand construction positions in the region,” said Golden LEAF President, Chief Executive Officer, Scott T. Hamilton. “This project will help expand the college’s short-term construction training programs to increase the number of completers per year for a stream of skilled workers for area employers.”

As part of an overall $10 million funding announcement, the Golden LEAF Foundation awarded $8.5 million in funding for 13 projects through the Community-Based Grants Initiative in the Piedmont-Triad Prosperity Zone. These projects will support agriculture, job creation and economic investment, and workforce preparedness in Alamance, Caswell, Davidson, Davie, Forsyth, Guilford, Randolph, Rockingham, Surry, and Yadkin counties.

GTCC will use the funding to bolster its short-term construction and trade programs, including apartment maintenance, HVAC/refrigeration, electrical, and its new 10-week construction boot camp with the formation of a local Business and Industry Leadership Team (BILT), hiring of full-time instructors, scholarship opportunities, new equipment, supplies, and marketing outreach.

The 10-week construction boot camp offers fast-track training with hands-on experience, covering carpentry, use of hand tools, power tools, construction math, and more. Participants will be eligible for apprenticeships, internships, and degree opportunities, supported by work-based learning.

“At GTCC, we know the value of training local students with short-term options to fill high-demand, well-paying positions in the Triad,” said GTCC President Anthony Clarke, Ph.D. “These additional funds will allow the college to train more students to fill the needs for certified, qualified technicians for our community partners.”

The funding will also be used to enhance the college’s current English for Speakers of Other Languages (ESOL) Integrated Education and Training pathways into craft skills for construction and apartment maintenance, as well as to launch a new pathway into HVAC/refrigeration. These programs integrate language skills for non-native English speakers so students can learn terminology and communication skills needed for the workplace.

The goal is to help 45 students complete construction trades courses, with an additional 30 students earning third-party credentials by the end of the first year.

About Golden LEAF:
The Golden LEAF Foundation is a nonprofit organization established in 1999 to receive a portion of North Carolina’s funding from the 1998 Master Settlement Agreement with cigarette manufacturers. For 25 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.

The Foundation has had a lasting impact on tobacco-dependent, economically distressed, and rural areas of the state by helping to create 68,000 jobs, more than $780 million in new payrolls, and more than 98,000 workers trained or retrained for higher wages. For more information about Golden LEAF and our programs, please visit our website at www.goldenleaf.org.