History
Responding to the recommendation of a legislative study committee that “every citizen of the Commonwealth be given an opportunity to attend an institution of higher learning offering academic, occupational/technical, and community service programs at a nominal cost,” in 1966 the General Assembly of Virginia established a state-wide system of community colleges. A newly established State Board for Community Colleges prepared a plan for a system of 23 institutions. The Lieutenant Governor, J. Sargeant Reynolds, heralded the creation of the Virginia Community College System by the General Assembly as “one of its finest acts and finest hours in this century.”
J. Sargeant Reynolds Community College, the last of these colleges, is named in honor of the late Lieutenant Governor of the State, who championed legislation creating the state-supported community colleges. Opened in 1972 in temporary headquarters, the college is now a three-campus institution and the third largest in the Virginia Community College System. The community college plan called for J. Sargeant Reynolds Community College to consist of three permanent instructional centers, serving a geographic district comprising the Virginia counties of Goochland, Hanover, Henrico, and Powhatan, and the city of Richmond (north of the James River). Louisa County was subsequently added to the college’s service region on a shared basis with Piedmont Virginia Community College. With the opening of the Western Campus in Goochland County in the spring of 1978, the college completed its plan for three campuses, located at urban, suburban, and rural sites. Additionally, in the spring of 1996, the State Board for Community Colleges added Richmond south of the James to its service region.
In 1977 the college established its nationally recognized Center for Office Development, a statewide pilot project with the Virginia Community College System and State of Virginia, to provide training in office and supervisory skills for employees of the Commonwealth. Within several years the Center opened this training opportunity to all individuals and businesses. By spring 1989, the college offered short-term training and seminars at three locations in the metropolitan Richmond area.
Demand for these services from the business community continued to escalate. As a result, the college reorganized its outreach efforts in 1994 by creating the Institute for Economic Development & Extended Studies. In response to the evolving needs of the business community, the unit reorganized in the fall of 2000, changing its name to the Institute for Workforce Development. The Institute was composed of six centers including the Center for Corporate Training, the Center for Organizational Effectiveness, the Center for Lifelong Learning, the Center for Apprenticeship Programs, the Center for Entrepreneurial Development, and the Center for Professional Development and Renewal.
J. Sargeant Reynolds Community College (JSRCC) and John Tyler Community College (JTCC) collaborated in 2003 to create a new workforce development entity that provides business, industry and government in the region with a single source for workforce development. The new organization is named the Community College Workforce Alliance (CCWA). The alliance is a cooperative partnership dedicated to supporting economic development and providing workforce training and services to the public and private sectors. The vision behind the new organization is to provide Richmond, Tri-cities and surrounding counties with a quality regional workforce development organization.
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