Primland Resort donated $10,000 to the Patrick County Education Foundation (PCEF) for its Patrick Promise initiative at a luncheon on Wednesday, May 14.
The Patrick Promise will extend support to provide free tuition to Patrick County High School (PCHS) graduates attending Patrick & Henry Community College (P&HCC), similar to The Harvest Foundation’s SEED Program that supports students in Martinsville and Henry County.
Steve Helms, vice president at Primland, said the business is happy to invest in Patrick County youth by donating to the Patrick County Education Foundation for the Patrick Promise initiative.
“For our PCHS seniors to be able to get an associate’s degree at no cost is outstanding. I mean, my family all went to school here, my kids graduated and went on to school, and they were very fortunate and actually got community degrees when they were in high school, so it was fantastic,” he said.
Helms said the Primland Auberge Resorts Collection wants to see more of this type of commitment going forward.
“Primland is very proud to be able to make a little donation here to the Patrick Promise, and hopefully we’ll get it over the hump and get some other folks out here to do the same,” he said.
P&HCC President Dr. Greg Hodges said the Patrick Promise has a threefold goal: to increase the post-high school credential attainment rates for Patrick County, to decrease the population migration from Patrick County, and to increase the economic attractiveness and workforce development potential of the Patrick County region.
PCHS has “consistently now for several years ranked among the top 10 in Virginia. The flipside of that are the post-high school credential attainment rates, which lag behind significantly the region and the state as well, and the economic impediment that is to attracting new businesses and industry,” he said.
Hodges said eliminating the population decline will help keep good, paying jobs in the county and potentially bring more into the area so people have a reason to stay and provide a good life for themselves and their families.
In his role as P&HCC president, Hodges said he does a lot of work in the economic development space.
“There are two things now that we discuss regularly when attracting new business and industry. The first is location and the second one is workforce development, and sometimes those flip, frankly. It’s the workforce development piece though, and it’s competitiveness for talent that we’re seeing across the world, frankly, that becomes the determining factor. So that’s what the Patrick Promise is trying to solve,” he said.
As of 2023, the one-time high school attainment rate in Virginia is 89 percent. For Patrick County, it’s 92 percent. However, it’s the post-high school education attainment rate where the Patrick Promise seeks to make a change.
“In other words, some kind of certification—meaningful, we call it meaningful certification—which means it’s a certification that leads to employment. We’re talking about certifications, associate’s degrees, career study certificates, or industry-recognized credentials that are tied directly to getting a job,” Hodges said.
The national post-high school graduation attainment rate for 2023 is 54 percent, while in Virginia it’s 59 percent. Patrick County’s rate is 29 percent.
“If you look at the 133 municipalities, the counties and cities in Virginia, Patrick County as of 2023 ranks 105 among all 133 and is well behind all surrounding localities. I think perhaps most concerning is that the national and the state rates are growing faster than the Patrick County rates. So every year that means we’re getting a little further behind, and that means we’ve got more work to do in order to keep folks here and get them connected to good-paying jobs,” he said.
Based upon current enrollment and tuition rates, Hodges said PCEF estimates that funding year one of the Patrick Promise would be $45,000. The cost for year two would be double that at $90,000, and year three and each subsequent year thereafter would be $135,000.
“We also made the decision that we did not want to launch this until we have the first three years in place. We were very resolute that a false start would be disastrous for the program, so we wanted to be able to launch to say we’ve got the first cohort funded and ready to go, which meant $270,000,” he said.
Following Primland’s donation, $180,395.64 is needed to launch the program.
PCEF Chairman Dr. Stewart Roberson said funding for the Patrick Promise has been operating in a silent phase for some time.
“We’ve been making appeals to graduating classes, particularly those who have had their 50-year reunions. The class of ‘71 and ‘73 have made significant contributions… and we’re going to continue that strategy as other classes celebrate those milestones,” he said.
Roberson said the PCEF appreciates the Patrick County School Board’s pledge for cell tower revenue, the Economic Development Authority’s (EDA’s) commitment of a check, and the Patrick County Board of Supervisors for continuing to give consideration to helping the community.
“It’s a great community effort as we move forward,” Roberson said. “Now we’re going more public, and we’re turning to business and community leaders because now is the time to do so. We know you understand the value—we all understand the value—of an educated workforce. Promoting the Patrick Promise is the right thing to do for our businesses.”
Community members interested in donating to Patrick Promise are encouraged to visit https://bit.ly/phccgivenow (designate Patrick Promise when donating).
