Workforce and Educational Excellence

The Alleghany Highlands are home to one of the best-educated workforce's in the world, highly trained and available for the unique, fast-evolving demands of communications and high technology needed in today's new economy.

There are _ prestigious colleges and universities, including Washington & Lee University, Virginia Military Institute and Dabney L. Lancaster community college, and _,000 students, _,000 of which graduate each year.

It is this powerful intellectual backbone, so important for high-tech business growth, which when coupled with nearby Roanoke expands to 17 colleges, 108,000 students and 25,000 graduates, and has inspired business leaders to dub this Virginia's Knowledge Corridor. Employers in the region have a wide range of career centers, technical training institutions and community colleges that partner with businesses to supply both skilled workers and customized training programs. Westvaco, Lear, AET and Acadia are among the companies that utilize these programs.

Key among those investments, and critical to the workforce resources in the region, are: Award-winning, nationally recognized One-Stop Career Centers (FutureWorks and CareerPoint) in Alleghany County that provide a variety of high-quality targeted services to employers;

More than $_ million in State training grants to companies to support worker upgrade training, which amounts to the highest percent of funds awarded to any region within the Commonwealth; and a $_ million grant for an Information and Telecommunication Technology (IT2) strategic alliance to fund high-tech training for employed and unemployed workers in the region.