Black River Technical College receives $650,000 workforce training grant

by Talk Business & Politics staff ([email protected]) 559 views 

Black River Technical College will receive a $650,000 state-funded regional workforce grant.

The focus of the grant will be in two areas.

The first is transportation, with a focus on sectors such as CDL, and automotive/collision repair, diesel technology, aviation maintenance/repair. The second area is advanced manufacturing, including robotics, mechatronics, CNC, machining, industrial technology, and renewable energy.

The Auto Collision Technology department will be receiving $150,000 to purchase a new automobile frame repair machine to replace the current machine that has been in use for more than 35 years.

The Machine Tool Technology department will be receiving $500,000 to purchase multiple pieces of machinery for both the Pocahontas and Paragould machine shop labs. This will include nine new Sharp manual lathes (eight for Pocahontas and one for Paragould), two new manual end mills (one for each campus), and one new Okomoto surface grinder.

Passed into law in 2015, the Workforce Initiative Act Regional Workforce Grant Program aids universities, colleges, and secondary schools with workforce development.