CHESAPEAKE, Va. — The City of Chesapeake received a $1 million federal funding boost Wednesday to go towards a new Chesapeake Public Schools Career and Technical Education Center. Congresswoman Jen Kiggans presented the check during a ceremony at the Chesapeake Career Center, where school leaders and students gathered to mark the milestone.
"Places like this are just invaluable to regions like Hampton Roads. We have so many jobs here that don't require necessarily a four-year education, that people can go right from these types of career training programs into the workforce," Kiggans said.
The $1 million in federal funding adds to the roughly $35 million already secured for the project. In January, Chesapeake Public Schools announced it had been awarded a $20 million grant from the Virginia Department of Education as part of the state's School Construction Assistance Program, which was unanimously approved in December. The district had previously secured about $16 million for design work and equipment acquisition. The total estimated cost of the new facility is approximately $101.5 million, excluding architectural and engineering services.
This year, 900 students applied to the Chesapeake Career Center, but a few hundred students had to be denied due to capacity limits in the current career center.
"We currently have 600 students enrolled at the Chesapeake Career Center, but we had 900 apply, so we had to turn away 300 students. And as Congresswoman Kiggans had touched on, we have a labor shortage crisis in America right now, especially in Hampton Roads. So we need the space, we need the enrollment," Chesapeake School Board Chair Kim Scott said.
Scott, who has a son currently enrolled in the welding program and a daughter who previously completed the building trades program, said the demand for certain programs is especially high. She noted there is currently a waiting list for the welding program alone, and the new facility would allow the district to offer two welding programs.
The new facility, called the Career Academies of Chesapeake, will be built on a district-owned, 20-acre site on Clearfield Avenue. It will offer six new career pathways, including advanced manufacturing, health sciences, information technology, and skilled trades.
Kiggans said the investment reflects the region's growing workforce demands, particularly in the defense industry and healthcare sectors. She pointed to programs in welding, collision repair, dental hygiene, phlebotomy, and criminal justice as examples of the hands-on training the center provides.
"We need all of those jobs. And not all of our students will go off to four year schools, and they don't need to. There's great jobs they can go right into the workforce, and that's what this program does. It sets them up for success," Kiggans said. "The jobs are out there, we need the people, and so that's what this institution is just an instrumental part of — of that workforce development project."
Scott added that the Chesapeake Career Center, which opened in 1967, is the oldest career center in the Commonwealth of Virginia, making the need for a new facility even more pressing.
A construction start date for the Career Academies of Chesapeake has not been set yet. The district is still working to secure the remaining funding needed to complete the project.
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