Career Training: Schools to receive $1.5 million from Golden Leaf for new high school building

Davie County Schools will receive a $1.5 million grant from Golden Leaf Foundation for construction and engineering/design costs to expand the Davie County Schools Career and Technical Education (CTE) Advanced Manufacturing Program.

The demand for related courses has resulted in a waiting list for students.

The funding will support the construction and engineering/design costs to expand the Davie County Schools Career and Technical Education (CTE) Advanced Manufacturing Program. The new building will be on the Davie High School campus and will feature a fabrication lab, advanced manufacturing training center, and flexible classroom spaces designed to foster creative thinking through the engineering process and promoting advanced manufacturing through robotics and mechatronics pathways.

“The new wing to our CTE department will help provide crucial industry-recognized credentialing and training opportunities for several CTE pathways,” said Anthony Davis, director of CTE and federal programs for Davie Schools. “It will allow us to help train future employees for area companies that lack sufficient skilled employees in automation, skilled maintenance, electrical and mechanical engineering, and machining.”

“We thank the Golden LEAF Board of Directors for this generous funding which allows us to further prepare our kids for college and the job market with skills that are well-aligned to what our local businesses need now and in the future,” said Jeff Wallace, Davie County Schools Superintendent. “Our partnerships with area businesses in Davie County play a crucial role in fostering the growth of our students and provide them with skills that are easily transferable to many career paths. The collaboration not only enriches the educational experience, but also offers invaluable real-world preparation, ensuring our students are well-equipped for success to secure excellent paying jobs available in Davie County and throughout North Carolina.”

“Through the Community-Based Grants Initiative, Golden LEAF works directly in one Prosperity Zone annually to identify projects with the greatest potential to have a significant impact,” said Golden LEAF President, Chief Executive Officer Scott T. Hamilton. “This competitive process focuses on projects that invest in the building blocks of economic growth with the ultimate goal of moving the economic needle in a community.”

“Area companies lack sufficient skilled employees in automation, skilled maintenance, electrical and mechanical engineering, and machining that these courses can address,” according to a news release from Golden Leaf.

“Today, the Golden LEAF board awarded projects that represent all three funding priorities of the foundation: job creation and economic investment, workforce preparedness, and agriculture,” said Golden LEAF Board Chair Ralph Strayhorn. “These projects will support the long-term economic advancement of rural, tobacco-dependent, and economically distressed communities. We look forward to the impact these projects will make for years to come.”

Since 1999, Golden LEAF has funded 2,245 projects totaling $1.3 billion supporting the mission of advancing economic opportunity in North Carolina’s rural, tobacco-dependent, and economically distressed communities.

The foundation is a nonprofit organization established in 1999 to receive a portion of North Carolina’s funding from the 1998 Master Settlement Agreement with cigarette manufacturers. For nearly 25 years, Golden LEAF has worked to increase economic opportunity in North Carolina’s rural and tobacco-dependent communities through leadership in grantmaking, collaboration, innovation, and stewardship as an independent and perpetual foundation.

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