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The former Worldwide Ford building on North Main Street in Marion is on its way to becoming an occupational and technical training center of Wytheville Community College.
A Marion building that over the years housed multiple vehicle dealerships, but has most recently sat vacant, is on its way to becoming a technical education center. It’s a move that local economic development planners believe will bolster the community and help its residents get the training necessary for better paying jobs.
This week, Smyth County officials announced a partnership with Wytheville Community College that is expected to transform the former Worldwide Ford building on Marion’s Main Street into a WCC center for technical and occupational training programs.
Those training opportunities could begin as soon as January.
County Administrator Shawn Utt said the idea took hold this spring during meetings with WCC officials to discuss budget requests. He said, “They were interested in developing a larger footprint in Smyth County, specifically the Town of Marion.”
WCC President Dr. Dean Sprinkle confirmed that position, saying, “WCC has been interested in expanding program offerings in Smyth County for a long time, but we have been limited in terms of the types of programs that we can offer.” Those limits stemmed from the space needed for technical training.
Utt and other county officials decided to put the matter before the Economic Development Authority (EDA) and Board of Supervisors “to see if we could gauge some interest in helping to facilitate the project forward.”
The EDA and supervisors, Utt said, were quite supportive.
The supervisors committed $250,000 to be used as seed money, Utt said, and The Bank of Marion OK’d funding to allow the EDA to buy the Worldwide Ford building. He anticipated that the lease agreement with WCC should be finalized “this week and hopefully they’ll begin soon thereafter to get the renovations started.”
“One of the most important strategic priorities of the Smyth County EDA is the support of workforce development programs for citizens of the county,” EDA Chairman John McLean Jr. said in a news release. “The EDA is very pleased that WCC will materially expand its offerings in the county through use of the building for hands-on skilled training and development. We very much appreciate the financial support of the Board of Supervisors and The Bank of Marion, which enabled the purchase. We look forward to a long and productive partnership with WCC.”
In that release, Supervisors Chairman Charlie Atkins said, “The Board of Supervisors recognizes the importance of workforce development and skilled technical trade in our community and region. We are proud to support the EDA, this partnership with WCC, and look forward to the opportunities it will bring.”
With this partnership, WCC officials said they will provide programs that specialize in skilled trade and career preparation for in-demand sectors within this region and offer area industries additional qualified workforce members.
“Based on conversations with business and industry leaders in WCC’s service region and analysis of employment data, we believe there is a need for automotive training,” said Perry Hughes, WCC’s vice president of workforce development and occupational programs. “WCC recently started a one-year automotive program in Wytheville that is offered in the evening… in partnership with Wythe County Public Schools. That program is doing well, and the former Worldwide Ford building will be the perfect location for WCC to expand this automotive program. The facility comes with existing automotive lifts and adequate lab space.”
“The space at the former Worldwide Ford building has the potential to allow WCC to offer a variety of new types of programs,” Hughes noted. “We will be working closely with the Smyth County EDA and business and industry to identify the training needs of existing employers, as well as anticipate what types of programs may be needed by potential employers who may be looking to locate in Smyth County.”
WCC plans to continue offering general education courses at the Henderson School in downtown Marion. However, Sprinkle noted, “that space is limited to traditional classrooms designed primarily for lecture or computer lab instruction,… while the space available at the former Worldwide Ford building has larger, more open spaces needed for occupational/technical programs, many of which require large lab spaces and equipment that just isn’t available at the Henderson.”
“WCC is incredibly excited to partner with the Smyth County EDA for this opportunity to expand offerings to the citizens in this part of our service region,” said Sprinkle. “This facility will provide space for occupational, skilled trades and workforce programs, and will be a great complement to the lecture classroom space of WCC at the Henderson.
Sprinkle noted his appreciation to Smyth County’s EDA “for working with the college to provide additional opportunities to the citizens of the county and the region.”
Sprinkle said, “We anticipate initial offerings available beginning in January.”
On funding for the project, WCC said, preliminary allocations have been made and the college “will be seeking additional resources as plans are developed.”
WCC has long “leased space at the Crossroads Institute in Galax for many years that has allowed the college to expand training programs in welding, HVAC, and construction technologies. All of these programs require space beyond traditional lecture classroom space,” explained Hughes. “Having the larger space available at the former Worldwide Ford facility opens exciting opportunities for WCC. We plan to start with an automotive program and then see what other types of programs may be needed. We look forward to working with business and economic development leaders in Smyth County to meet their needs.”
“Having a larger presence of WCC in Smyth County, especially with the training programs they are looking to do (automotive, welding, other trade-type programs), we are able to fill the needs of our community holistically and from within,” said Utt.
The county administrator concluded, “Students who graduate from these programs have a much higher chance of being offered solid paying jobs and we hope to be able to build the blue collar workforce back to where we need it to be.”
Thursday evening, the Smyth County Board of Supervisors lauded the partnership during their meeting.
Supervisor Mike Sturgill, a longtime educator, called the center a gamechanger and “such good news.” He spoke of a high school graduate who went to Nashville and spent about $45,000 to get training as a diesel mechanic.
Reach Stephanie Porter-Nichols at sportern@smythnews.com.
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The former Worldwide Ford building on North Main Street in Marion is on its way to becoming an occupational and technical training center of Wytheville Community College.