Washington, DC — Senator Joe Manchin (D-WV), Chairman of the U.S. Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee, announced that BridgeValley Community and Technical College, located in South Charleston, WV, will receive $3,000,000 through the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) — funded through Chairman Manchin’s Bipartisan Infrastructure Law — to develop an Industrial Assessment Center (IAC) in partnership with Blue Ridge Community and Technical College in Martinsburg, WV, and the West Virginia University IAC. The IAC at BridgeValley Community and Technical College will focus on training students for future careers in smart manufacturing and electric vehicle manufacturing. 

“Over the past years, we’ve seen an influx of manufacturing coming to the Mountain State. As new facilities and manufacturing centers continue to be built, the time is now to start developing a local workforce that will help students find good-paying jobs in these new, innovative industries. West Virginia is America’s Energy Powerhouse, and this program will help to continue that legacy while providing new economic opportunity for the people of our great state as we develop the energy technologies of the future,” said Chairman Manchin.

Project Description:

This project will support manufacturing employers and clients through enhanced technical assistance and training pathways that lead to high-quality jobs in West Virginia’s emerging clean energy manufacturing sector. Lead applicant BridgeValley Community and Technical College, in partnership with Blue Ridge Community and Technical College and the West Virginia University IAC, will collaborate with regional and statewide networks of employers, community-based organizations, and labor to expand smart manufacturing and electric vehicle manufacturing training efforts. The project directs activities and investments to disadvantaged communities in regions of West Virginia that are recovering from negative economic impacts of the downturn of the coal industry, residents and workers impacted by the opioid epidemic, and ongoing business impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic.

For more information from the U.S. Department of Energy, click here.