After years of planning, the Communiversity — a major workforce educational training center — is under construction.
State, local and federal officials were on-hand for a Friday morning groundbreaking ceremony at the site of the facility, off Highway 82 in Lowndes County just west of PACCAR.
The Communiversity, which will specialize in advanced manufacturing training in the Golden Triangle, is a partnership between the Golden Triangle Development LINK, local government entities from Lowndes, Oktibbeha and Clay counties, and East Mississippi Community College.
Mississippi Lt. Gov. Tate Reeves, who spoke during Friday’s ceremony, said the facility could represent a pivotal tool for the Golden Triangle to continue its explosive industrial growth.
“When I think about the Communiversity project, I don’t think there’s any place better or any better partner than East Mississippi Community College,” Reeves said. “I see this as a transformational opportunity whereby you now have the critical mass of employers in this state where you can justify the investment in the project.
“But now you’re going to be able to turn out 100 or 500 or 1,000 trained workers who, in and of themselves, will be able to recruit business and industry here,” he added.
The Communiversity, formally known as the Center for Manufacturing Technology Excellence 2.0, will host manufacturing and technical training-based programs at its 30-acre site.
In addition to general workforce training, area industries will be able to use bays at the site to train employees on their own equipment.
Early construction work is already underway. The project has an anticipated fall 2018 completion date.
The project has been fully funded since last fall, with $18 million from the state, $13.5 million combined from Clay, Lowndes and Oktibbeha counties, and roughly $6.5 million in federal funding from the Appalachian Regional Commission.
EMCC President Thomas Huebner said he believes the Communiversity will be an important tool for the college and the region for developing a stronger workforce.
“This facility is going to provide us a state-of-the-art opportunity to reach prospective students, families, people who need an opportunity to get the skills in order to move up in the workplace, which we know is not only going to change their families, but the entire community,” he said.
LINK CEO Joe Max Higgins, during early remarks in the ceremony, referred to a report from William Fruth, president of POLICOM, a Florida-based economic research firm that encouraged local leaders to invest in workforce training in order to further spur economic growth.
Higgins said Fruth indicated workforce development would be critical for the Golden Triangle to continue moving forward economically.
“I’ll never forget the quote he made,” Higgins said. “We need to build a place with the staff to inspire the youth for a lifetime of work.”
The Golden Triangle’s three counties worked together to help bring the project to fruition. Reeves said that cooperation is key for continued economic development and could serve as a model for other areas of the state.
“It doesn’t happen everywhere, and I’ll tell you that where it happens, economic development happens,” Reeves said. “In places where it doesn’t, there’s very little capital investment going on.
“When it comes to economic development, we’re not talking Starkville versus West Point versus Columbus,” he continued. “We’re competing with Alabama and Georgia and South Carolina and, quite frankly, with China and Japan and places all around the world.”
Supervisors from Clay, Lowndes and Oktibbeha counties spoke during the ceremony. John Montgomery, District 1 supervisor for Oktibbeha County, said the growth the Golden Triangle has seen is evident in how much the Highway 82 corridor has changed since his parents used to take him to Columbus when he was a child.
“The only thing that you saw was deer between Starkville and Columbus,” Montgomery said. “That was a game to play — to guess how many deer were between Starkville and Columbus. I mean, you had a highway with people passing through, and other than a barn or a house, that was it.
“Haven’t we come a long way?” Montgomery added. “I’m certain we have.”
Alex Holloway was formerly a reporter with The Dispatch.
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