by Wendy Harrison

FRANKLIN
Paul D. Camp Community College is leasing approximately 5,000 feet of warehouse space from Tidewater Publications LLC, the company that publishes The Tidewater News, in their facility located at 1000 Armory Drive in Franklin. The idea for leasing the space was the result of a conversation between PDCCC President Dr. Dan Lufkin and TPL Publisher Tony Clark at a recent PDCCC Foundation Board meeting.

“We are proud to partner with The Tidewater News on this endeavor,” said Lufkin. “The addition of a global logistics regional training program at the college not only supports our local business and industry, it will help people get jobs. This is truly a win-win for everybody.”

Global logistics will further add to stackable credentials.

Many partners and employers have been involved in the new endeavor, such as Target Distribution Center, Quality Custom Distribution, the Port of Virginia and Opportunity Inc.

“We are excited about the opportunity to provide students hands-on training in a real warehouse environment,” said PDCCC Workforce Development Director Angela Lawhorne. “This facility will allow us to provide training year-round while expanding training programs to meet the growing needs of local employers.”

The facility features a classroom and warehouse training space and will house the new non-credit Warehouse & Distribution Foundations course, which begins on Monday, Dec. 11. Registration is under way for the course, which will be comprised of the Career Readiness Certificate; the OSHA 10 Certification; forklift, reach and clamp truck training, as well as soft skills for employability that will include basic computer training.

“In the months since freeing up our warehouse facility, we have considered several options for how to best make use of the space,” said Clark. “The fact that we were able to do so by supporting Dr. Lufkin’s vision of expanding available workforce training opportunities in our community was the best possible solution.”

Plans are under way for a formal open house event at a later date. For more information, call 569-6050, email workforce@pdc.edu, or visit www.pdc.edu.

WENDY HARRISON is the public relations specialist for PDCCC.