DOUGLAS, Ga. – The Department of Agriculture and Wiregrass Georgia Technical College has announced four Rural Business Development Grant awards totaling $171 ,694.99 that will help prepare students and graduates to fill the demand for a technically skilled workforce.
(L-R): Jody Redding (Regional Director with Senator Johnny Isakson’s office), Dr. Bonnie Kelly (Executive Director for Institutional Effectiveness for Wiregrass ), Dr. Shawn Utley ( Executive Vice President for Academic Affairs for Wiregrass ), Shandolyn Smith (USDA Area Specialist), Jeanmarie DeLoach (USDA Acting Area Director), Donnie Thomas (USDA Assistant State Director), Charles White (Field Representative for Senator David Perdue’s office), and Donovan Head (Field Representative with the Office of Representative Austin Scott)
Funds will be used to purchase technical equipment for training Nursing program, Criminal Justice program and Welding program students for workforce readiness.
“These advancements will provide opportunities for Wiregrass Georgia Technical College to deliver cutting edge training so students are workforce ready and Georgia based companies have local candidates to hire,” said Jill Stuckey, USDA Rural Development Georgia State Director. With the primary mission of workforce development, WGTC hopes to graduate enough skilled technicians to fill the growing demand by employers. There are 828 students currently enrolled in the Nursing, Criminal Justice and Welding programs.
Students and workers will enhance practical skills with the equipment purchased from the four grants. For example, a $36,000 award will purchase two Adult Virtual IV (Intravenous) Trainer simulators for nursing students to gain hands-on clinical training and practice. Because the college relies upon clinical sites for training, students do not always receive a high number of IV s to start on patients for hands-on training. The use of the Adult Virtual IV Trainer will allow nursing students to practice as often as they need to and as much as they want for expert skills level. IV Simulation has been shown to improve skills in areas like recognizing a deteriorating patient, triaging emergency patients more accurately, managing stroke patients, working collaboratively in an obstetrics setting, and more.
The Criminal Justice program will purchase a full spectrum imaging camera to allow students practice at mock crime scene evidence processing with a $31 ,000 award; and $4,695 will be used toward the purchase of a Latent Master Rugged Mobile Workstation for crime scene fingerprint processing. In addition to their use in classroom, classes and courses will be offered to surrounding municipal and private law enforcement agencies.
Virtual Reality trainers are also being purchased for Wiregrass’ s ARC Welding program. A $99,999.00 award will purchase two VRTEX 360 Virtual Reality ARC Welding Trainers to be used to train new welding students and retrain and update current welding employees within the college’s service area.
Funding comes from the Rural Business Development Grant (RBDG) program which is designed to support targeted technical assistance, training and other activities leading to the development or expansion of small and emerging private businesses in rural areas. Funding is contingent upon the recipient meeting the terms of the grant agreement. In Fiscal Year 2016, Georgia Rural Development awarded twelve Rural Business Development Grants totaling $899,000, see http://www.rd.usda.gov/files/ga fy16RBDGlist.pdf for a list of awardees.
