Marla Jones, Mananging Editor
FORT PAYNE, Ala.-- On Monday, Governor Kay Ivey, local dignitaries, along with Fort Payne City and School Officials, broke ground on the new Building, Electrical Aviation Technology Center (BEAT).
Funding for the new BEAT Center in Fort Payne was made possible by a $1 million dollar grant by the Alabama Department of Economic and Community Affairs.
“I am pleased to know that we are giving hands-on exposure for our students to have the opportunity to select one of these career pathways for themselves,” stated Governor Ivey.
“In the last five years, we’ve seen nearly $19 billion in new capital investment and created more than 44,000 new jobs. Fort Payne’s BEAT Center will only support those efforts through vocation training,” Ivey recently tweeted.
A recent report from The Business Education Alliance of Alabama stated that Alabama will face a shortage of skilled workers in the next five years if there is not more collaboration between business, education, and career tech training programs.
The report goes on to state that Alabama is on pace to have a shortage of close to 200,000 highly skilled workers by 2025-2026 if a change is not made.
This center will give valuable training to students in the fields of construction, electrical, plumbing, and aviation.
Ivey stated that students that are trained at the new BEAT facility will be critical to ensure Alabama’s economy will continue to remain on an upward trajectory.
