Charleston, SC Economic Development

Worker training center is planned in St. George

Feb. 8, 2008
Charleston Post and Courier
By Dave Munday
ST. GEORGE — Dorchester County will use a $1.3 million grant to build a job-training center run by Trident Technical College.

It could mean jobs for about 300 people a year, and it also could help attract more industries to the upper part of the county.

"Winning this grant ... is a major team victory," college President Mary Thornley said in a statement Thursday. "The real winners will be the residents of upper Dorchester County."

The center will be near the new county courthouse being built at U.S. Highway 78 and Academy Road. The county owns 87 acres of land there and also plans a joint fire and EMS station, office space, sports fields and walking trails.

Construction of the jobs center is expected to start within six months, and it's expected to be open by April 2010, County Public Information Officer Carolyn Tomlinson said.

It will be called a QuickJobs Development Center, because it will train workers within 60 to 90 days. Lloyd Kling, Trident Tech's director of workforce develop-ment, is developing the program. Students will learn to work in manufacturing plants, warehouses, jails and prisons, day care centers and medical facilities, he said.

"It's a growing area (around St. George), and there's a pretty high rate of unemployment," Kling said. "We have as our mission economic development. This will help bring in more industries."

He expects about 300 students the first year.

The money is a Community Development Block Grant from the state Department of Commerce. Counties that don't have technical colleges were eligible for the grants, Trident Tech Assistant Vice President for Advancement Kim Sturgeon said.

Trident Tech has offered some classes at the Dorchester County Career School but does not have a campus in the county. The jobs center won't qualify as a campus, because the school won't own the land or building, Sturgeon said.

Thornley also credited Democratic state lawmakers Rep. Patsy Knight and Sen. John Matthews, Dorchester County Council, the county administrator and staff, the career school and the Berkeley-Charleston-Dorchester Council of Governments. 		related information