Officials with Patrick & Henry Community College (P&HCC) attended the April 29 Patrick County Board of Supervisors work session to request the county not cut funds for Stuart site during the ongoing fiscal year (FY) 2024-2025 budget process.
P&HCC is set to receive $15,000 of its requested $17,000 for FY25. The organization received $10,000 in the current budget year.
Dr. Greg Hodges, president of P&HCC, said the three-year revenue total for the P&HCC Stuart site’s FY21-23 was $2,273,760. Its expenses were $2,269,789, it had a net operating gain of $3,971.
Hodges said equipment investments for the various training programs offered for the three years is $933,724.
“All of these have been able to be procured because we’ve been able to show that Patrick County as a body, as a municipality, contributes dollars to Patrick & Henry Community College. We would not have been able to procure a single one of these without showing a degree of match coming, even small dollars, candidly, that there are contributions coming from Patrick County,” he said.
Hodges said $424,796 from the P&HCC Foundation Scholarships was also awarded over the three fiscal years.
According to a study through the Virginia Community College (VCCC) system by Lightcast, a company that specializes in labor market data and analytics, Hodges said that for every dollar that a student spends, they get back $3.80 in lifetime earnings.
“For every dollar that a community invents in taxpayer dollars, that community receives back $1.70 over the lifetime of that student for the economic impact that they bring to the community in upskilling and job obtainment,” Hodges said. “In society as a whole, that community gains $4.10 on things like reduced dependency on state benefits, incarceration, drug addictions, all of which are enhanced by education and training.”
Rhonda Hodges, vice-president of Workforce, Economic & Community Development, said the college has tried to be strategic over the past 5 to 10 years in its local workforce development expansion.
“That really begins with education and industry working together, and that’s all about relationships. We have an amazing team here led by Angie Brown who has built a lot of relationships,” said Rhonda Hodges, who is no relation to Greg Hodges.
The college worked strategically to add the welding expansion to Patrick County High School (PCHS) juniors and senior students in addition to the dual enrollment program, Rhonda Hodges said.
“Students are able to earn some certifications – some of them American Welding Society (AWS) certifications – while they’re in high school, and then finish up through an associate degree at Patrick & Henry if that’s their desire,” she said. “When they get those AWS certifications, they’re immediately employable as a welder.”
Rhonda Hodges said manufacturing continues to be a critical employment sector in Southwest Virginia, although it is different than it was in the past. To provide the needed skillset for those jobs, she said P&HCC brought its mechatronics training program to the Baliles-Reynolds Learning Center.
“We put about $600,000 worth of equipment in there dealing with PLCs, mechanical training systems, fluid power systems, and robotics. Classes for academic credit have been offered in mechatronics to dual-enrolled students,” she said.
For workforce development, Rhonda Hodges said P&HCC offers sessions with Fast Forward programs, which are short-term, non-credit training programs that can lead to industry certifications or credentials.
Local businesses such as Insight Textiles and Ten Oaks, LLC have enrolled employees in that program to train and upskill them about the new automation in their facilities.
Rhonda Hodges said P&HCC partnered with Wytheville Community College in early 2023 to get a grant to develop the pole yard at PCHS to offer a powerline worker training program in Patrick County.
“We began the program in the fall, and we’ve had seven graduates that finished up in December. We currently have seven students enrolled in that program as well,” she said.
PCHS students currently cannot take classes that use the pole yard due to their age and safety concerns.
For the expanded learning program, Jonathan Wood, of the Peters Creek District, asked how much P&HCC paid versus Patrick County.
Greg Hodges said when the idea was formed, he was approached by former school superintendent Dr. William Sroufe, who indicated he would provide the space and the college would cover everything else.
“We didn’t have the money for the equipment, and so we went to the Tobacco Commission to ask them to provide the equipment, and they said they don’t fund high schools. So, we came back to the superintendent at the time and said we’re going to have to get creative because we don’t have the dollars,” he said.
Greg Hodges said subsequent superintendents have been generous in allowing P&HCC to do dual enrollment during the day and the adult welding lab in the evening.
“We took that back to the Tobacco Commission and they agreed. (It was the) first time in the Tobacco Commission’s history they have agreed to provide for that because it is a dual-function lab. So, long answer to your short question, we provide the equipment, we got it grant funded, and the only way we got it grant funded is because we showed your match your dollars that you put up,” he said.
Wood inquired about students’ tuition and the amount P&HCC gets in return.
Greg Hodges said it’s at capacity and there’s a waiting list, but he did not have the exact number.
Considering the locality’s workforce is a precursor to industry locating in the county, Steve Marshall, of the Blue Ridge District, said he appreciates what P&HCC does.
“I wish I could get this return investment on my own investments,” he said.
In other matters, the board:
*Discussed the proposed FY2024-2025 budget.
*Awarded the contract for FY2024-2025 health insurance renewal to Anthem with the premium increase share being 50-50 between the employer and the employees. Employees also have the option of two Preferred Provider Organizations (PPO) and two Point of Service (POS) plans as presented.
*Approved the signature of approval on the environmental review for the Business Development Center (BDC).
*Approved appropriating $700,000 from the Appalachian Regional Commission (ARC) funds for the construction of the BDC.
