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RICHMOND, Va.,– Today, William T. Powers III, president and CEO, Commonwealth Center for Advanced Manufacturing (CCAM), announced the U.S. Department of Commerce’s Economic Development Administration (EDA) has awarded CCAM a grant of $3.15 million to build an apprentice academy in Prince George County, Virginia. This award is supplemented by an additional $9.5 million appropriated from the Commonwealth of Virginia.

CCAM established the Advanced Manufacturing Apprentice Academy to bolster the state’s advanced manufacturing industry by creating a reliable pipeline of workers with factory-ready skills and credentials suitable for high paying jobs. These grants allow CCAM to begin the construction phase on the Academy.

PRINCE GEORGE — Residents of rural Prince George County hoping to gain broadband access are now seeing light at the end of the tunnel — or, in this case, at the end of the cable.

Since February 2017, 50 households in the county have enjoyed top-of-the-line fiber connections, with the promise of more to come.

In the fall of 2016, Prince George Electric Cooperative unveiled a pilot program that offered last-mile fiber connections. By installing a “smart grid” of large-count fibers connecting power substations across the service area, PGEC was able to develop a revolutionary process. With this structure in place, PGEC’s own linemen can efficiently lay the “last mile” of fiber from the smart grid to individual homes and businesses.

PRINCE GEORGE – A months-long project aimed at beautifying one of Prince George County’s most heavily visited exits reached completion last month but, for the county’s economic development team, the project is just the beginning of a bright future for Prince George’s business prospects.

In October, Prince George County and The Cameron Foundation marked the completion of their collaborative $1.2 million gateway project with a dedication ceremony at the site. “The Gardens at Exit 45,” named for its location off Interstate 95 at Exit 45, includes major lighting and landscaping enhancements. Along with the visually appealing landscaping elements, it features two, 47-foot-tall glass architectural spires that flank the roadway as well as create a threshold to the commercial district. The celebration follows more than two years of planning, design, and construction of the unique gateway.

A large percentage of students at the Charlottesville college were not finishing degrees, a common issue across the country at community colleges, which traditionally serve part-time, older and first-generation college students. “We held a college-wide series of town hall meetings,” Frank Friedman, president of PVCC, says of the initiative started three years ago. “We were not satisfied with the percentage of our students who were graduating.”

As a result, PVCC launched a Student Success program in 2015, providing mandatory orientation and advising to help students navigate their educational pathways. The college beefed up its advising staff and started a mentoring program for new students. “This was a concerted effort involving literally the entire faculty and staff to develop interventions to help our students succeed without lowering any of our standards,” says Friedman.

Initiatives like these will play a vital role in Virginia’s ambitious push to become the best-educated state in the nation by 2030. That goal could require raising the percentage of Virginia’s working-age population (25-64) with at least a two-year degree or a workplace credential from 51 to 70 percent, according to the State Council of Higher Education for Virginia (SCHEV).

M&M’s is a billion dollar global brand — one of ten billion dollar brands in Mars’ food and pet-care businesses. The others include: Snickers, Twix, Orbit/Extra, Dove/Galaxy, Banfield, Pedigree, Whiskas and Royal Canin, and VCA Inc.

Mars is Virginia-based, operating from its corporate headquarters in McLean. The two-story, brown-brick building isn’t plush as headquarters go, but there is a tasty perk: free snacks, including a cold case in the reception area stocked with Mars ice-cream confections.

With so many big brands, it’s not surprising that the fourth-generation, family-owned business ranks as the sixth-largest private company in America, with $35 billion in annual sales and 85,000 employees in 80 countries.

Yet when it comes to winning brands, Mars has plenty of company in Virginia. From the macho Marlboro Man to a rambunctious group of Vikings who promoted Capital One credit cards, Virginia companies have a history of standout products and slogans.