$1.5M doled out to Valley

The state gave more than $500,000 to local parks and recreation projects.
By AMANDA DAVIS
and JOHN GOODWIN
VINDICATOR STAFF WRITERS
CHAMPION -- Mahoning Valley institutions and agencies are $1.5 million richer today.
The lion's share -- $1 million -- goes to the Kent State University Trumbull Campus Workforce Development and Continuing Studies Center.
Center director Margaret Croyts said one $500,000 grant from the Ohio Department of Development will help establish a video conferencing center so training programs can be transmitted to other sites in the world.
All the money was doled out by state officials during Gov. Bob Taft's visit Thursday.
The center's labs will be enhanced by more sophisticated, automated equipment that will be bought with another $500,000 grant KSUTC got.
Reason for choice: Rod Chu, chancellor of the Ohio Board of Regents, which governs the state's higher education, noted the grant was awarded to KSUTC because of its business partnerships and commitment to the Mahoning Valley.
An adaptive technology computer lab will also be built with grants to provide job training for people with severe disabilities, Croyts said.
"If we in the Valley are going to compete, we have to have a work force that is trained using today's technology," she added. "The future is high-tech jobs."
The center conducted its first class in August 2000. It's home to about $1.5 million in industrial equipment used for machining, tooling and robotics.
The facility will provide training services to support entry-level and advanced skilled trades and high-tech jobs.
Taft called KSUTC's facilities one of the greatest assets in the Mahoning Valley and Ohio.
The grants will help train new workers and upgrade skills at places like General Motors and Delphi Packard Electric Systems, Taft said.
Other checks: Taft and Sam Speck, director of Ohio Department of Natural Resources, also presented checks totaling more than $550,000 to communities through the NatureWorks program and Land & amp; Water Conservation Fund.
NatureWorks, funded through a 1993 bond issue, assists communities in improving parks and other recreational facilities. The Land & amp; Water Conservation Fund is a federal fund providing similar support.
Communities in Columbiana, Mahoning and Trumbull counties got 11 checks through the NatureWorks program and three L & amp;WCF checks.
Funding from the L & amp;WCF is recommended to the federal government, which must approve spending for those three projects. It is almost a certainty that the communities will get the funding. A recommendation, Speck said, has not been turned down in 32 years.