Governor Beshear announces grant awarded to BSCTC

Big Sandy Community and Technical College (BSCTC) has received $406,440  in grant funds to purchase equipment and supplies to create the East Kentucky Welding Technology & American Welding Society (AWS) Training Center in a space currently undergoing renovation on the Mayo Campus in Johnson County. A federal ARC POWER grant award has made
the facility's renovation possible; the new funding will provide the equipment to complete the training facility.

The grant announced by Governor Beshear this week is funded through the Appalachian Regional Commission's (ARC) state grant program. It will add fifteen welding training stations and other equipment to the state-of-the-art training facility. The equipment will support the delivery of welding instruction aligned with the American Welding Society's curriculum and professional certification (AWS Certified Welder) at BSCTC's Mayo Campus.

In recent years, the demand for welding and fabrication skills in the workforce of Eastern Kentucky has risen. Employers consider the American Welding Society the industry standard for the field. BSCTC seeks to expand its welding technology and workforce training capacity to include AWS skills and certification possibilities and establish a high-quality, state-of-the-art training lab.