2/12/26
Patrick & Henry Community College (P&HCC), in partnership with Danville Community College (DCC) and Southside Virginia Community College (SVCC), is embarking on a coordinated, region-wide initiative to expand industrial skilled trades programs that directly align with GO Virginia Region 3’s traded sector industries. This project will substantially increase the region’s capacity to produce skilled workers while ensuring consistent, high-quality credential delivery across Region 3’s three community colleges.
The Industrial Skilled Trades Regional Expansion project is funded in part by a $1,346,786.00 grant from GO Virginia, a state-funded initiative administered by the Virginia Department of Housing and Community Development (DHCD) that strengthens and diversifies Virginia’s economy and fosters the creation of higher wage jobs in strategic industries.
The project focuses on the Advanced Manufacturing cluster from the 2025 GO Virginia Region 3 Growth and Diversification Plan. Region 3 continues to face a shortage of industrial trades workers, limiting growth for both traded sector employers and specialty contractors. Through shared investments in equipment, faculty, and mobile-training capacity, the project will increase regional training output and ensure students earn portable, industry-recognized certifications through NCCER, NC3, and Festo standards.
The project will support historic investments in the region, including the $1.35 billion investment by Microporous LLC, which is adding 2,000 jobs at the Berry Hill Megasite jointly developed by Danville City and Pittsylvania County. These jobs will require a highly skilled workforce and the initiative will ensure a supply of skilled industrial maintenance workers to support this significant regional investment.
Carpenters are in particularly high demand among Southern Virginia’s modular and manufactured-home builders, including Cavco Industries (Martinsville and Rocky Mount) and Cardinal Homes (Wylliesburg), which export modular products across the eastern United States. The proposed carpentry expansion at P&HCC will supply these firms with skilled labor for modular manufacturing, assembly, and finishing operations.
“Across the Commonwealth, there is a surge in demand for industrial skilled trades workers, driven by the state’s growth in infrastructure, energy, shipbuilding, healthcare, and more. The project’s design—three community colleges sharing resources, faculty expertise, and mobile training assets—demonstrates how regional collaboration can efficiently expand training capacity without duplication. We are so grateful to the GO Virginia Region 3 Council for their support of the project,” said Dr. Colin Ferguson, P&HCC assistant vice president of workforce & technical programs.
P&HCC will administer the grant and coordinate overall project implementation. Further, P&HCC will scale existing training to expand beyond level one NCCER training, add Levels 2-4 in HVAC, carpentry, electrical, and plumbing, and continue expanding the use of its electrical mobile training lab. DCC will lead the expansion of Industry 4.0 and industrial maintenance programs aligned with Festo NC3 national standards. SVCC will launch a new plumbing program and deploy a mobile training lab that will serve counties in its area. Additionally, Virginia Career Works West Piedmont Region will help coordinate paid work experiences for students in the expanded training opportunities. The project will accelerate job creation, raise household income, and strengthen supply chains supporting advanced manufacturing across Southern Virginia.
In the photo: Dr. Colin Ferguson stands in P&HCC’s building trades lab that will undergo renovation to house the project.