The proposed building will boast amenities such as a large indoor fabrication area, space for 90 welding stations, as well as a 4,000 square-foot covered outdoor work area with teaching stations to simulate real-world working conditions.
"Our goal is to increase enrollment and graduate skilled welders ready to meet the employment demand of a wide range of manufacturing and energy production sectors," said NGTC President Steve Dougherty. "This kind of progress is only possible with the support of our partners in the community and the industry."
The US Department of Commerce Economic Development Administration (EDA) is providing partial funding for this project in the amount of $647,500, which will be matched by NGTC. In addition, $300,000 was received from the Appalachian Regional Commission (ARC) , and $54,531 from USDA Rural Development to bring the total grant funding to $1,002,031.
Community partners who supported the grant applications included Aaron Boone of A&B Iron, Whit Diggs of BOSAL, Bryan Dolan of Duke Energy, Ross
McConnell of DZ Atlantic, Al Huber of Patterson Pump, Jeff Ferguson of Piedmont Metal Processing, and Mike Smith of SteelCell of North America. "We greatly appreciate all that they did," said Dougherty. "We couldn't have done it without them."
Coordinating the grant applications was adeptly handled by NGTC's Grace Duvall who worked diligently with the various organizations to ensure all of the documentation was properly submitted. "James Thompson from the ARC and Jonathan Corsco from the EDA were wonderful to work with," said Duvall. "David Sargent from the Georgia Mountains Regional Center assisted with the application process."
http://accesswdun.com/article/2010/8/231672