Valencia College had a dilemma.
When it got a $2.5 million federal grant under the Trade Adjustment Assistance Community College and Career Training initiative in 2014 to expand training and education in high-tech manufacturing, it was missing a key component: A manufacturing training center.
Wanting to get started on training the future workforce due to more than 5,000 manufacturing job openings in Florida, with nearly 2,000 in Central Florida, Valencia College needed a facility quickly — without having to jump through the hoops of getting a building site approved and landing state construction funds