Mike Cronin

mcronin@citizen-times.com

Communities throughout Western North Carolina received about $1.8 million in grants on Wednesday from the Appalachian Regional Commission.

Funding went to two community colleges to develop automotive and aerospace training programs and 10 entities to provide free WiFi access.

Earl F. Gohl, commission co-chair, said in a prepared statement that the grants would “bring new opportunities to North Carolina’s families and communities” and help the state’s “Appalachian counties compete in a global economy.”

The commission is an economic-development agency comprising the U.S. government and 13 states that focus on 420 counties throughout the Appalachian region. Twenty-nine North Carolina counties are part of that region.

Gohl, state Commerce Secretary John Skvarla, state Information Technology Secretary Keith Werner and state Rural Economic Development Assistant Secretary Patricia Mitchell appeared at Isothermal Community College in Spindale on Wednesday morning to announce the grants.

Isothermal CC received $987,940 for its automotive and aerospace manufacturing program and to strengthen routes to careers in those fields in secondary and post-secondary schools. The grant will benefit about 300 students, according to Commerce officials.

Southwestern Community College in Sylva obtained $527,379 for its advanced automotive manufacturing and “related industries” program that exists in Swain, Jackson, and Macon counties. The grant will benefit about 189 students, according to Commerce officials.

More than 290 automotive-manufacturing operations exist in North Carolina. They employ more than 26,000.

Manufacturing trade publication Industry Week listed North Carolina last year as one of the country’s top-10 states for its ability to attract aerospace jobs.

The investments in WNC’s “advanced-manufacturing workforce pipelines will continue to strengthen our state’s position as one of the fastest growing economies in the nation,” said Gov. Pat McCrory in a prepared statement.

The WiFi grants totaled $272,000 and went to:

• Bryson City: $10,493

• Forest City: $21,200

• Granite Falls: $29,681

• Hudson: $40,735

• Morganton: $30,783

• Rosman: $5,780

• Rutherford College: $31,720

• Valdese: $49,094

• Walnut Cove: $17,944

• Wilkesboro: $35,000

Projects require a local match and will be self-supporting upon completion of the one-year term of the grant, Commerce officials said in a news release.

North Carolina ranks No. 2 in U.S. broadband-infrastructure investment, according to a report earlier this year by the Strategic Networks Group, which has its American headquarters in Denver. That company helps governments invest in and maximize broadband capability, according to its website.