On Wednesday, March 13, Virginia Gov. Glenn Youngkin and other state and local officials called Amazon Web Services’ $35 billion investment in Spotsylvania, Stafford, Caroline, and Louisa counties “transformational,” adding that related community college training will prepare local people of all ages for high-paying jobs.
Gov. Youngkin spoke at an AWS Data Center Campus Project Launch hosted by Germanna and the Fredericksburg Regional Alliance at the College’s campus in Spotsylvania.
AWS will invest $35 billion in Spotsylvania, Stafford, Caroline, and Louisa counties over the next 15 years to fill high-tech jobs, many of which pay well without a college education.
The U.S. Department of Labor has given Germanna Community College, along with Laurel Ridge, Northern Virginia, Piedmont Virginia, Rappahannock, Southside, Brightpoint, and Reynolds, a total of $5 million in grants to provide training for students who will fill jobs at AWS. Germanna will receive one of three project managers, along with equipment and retrofitting of current facilities. The grant also funds licensing for the training for the next three years. It’s part of the DoL Building Pathways to Infrastructure Grant providing fiber optic training to students who will help install cables that transmit data to the new AWS data centers.
Youngkin told a crowd at Germanna’s Fredericksburg Campus in Spotsylvania, “What's happening in our community college system is literally at the foundation of workforce development. And as our chancellor Dr. David Doré would say, we're blurring the lines with K through 12. We're blurring the lines in higher ed, with people who are suddenly, at the age of 50, saying ‘Listen, I'm going to do something else and find a pathway to get there.’ That's what our community college system can do. It is a place to build bridges. It's a place where opportunities are created. Germanna is literally the foundation for our future’s workforce.”
Youngkin is excited to see data centers opening across Virginia. “We have representation in Wise County, Mecklenburg County, in Greater Richmond…there is truly a wave of opportunity now across the Commonwealth.”
The governor said AWS has invested over $60 billion in the Commonwealth of Virginia in the last 18 years and supports thousands of jobs across the state.
“The partnership has stood the test of time, and that's why we're so excited that the partnership is expanding in such a large way,” Youngkin said, noting that 70% of global Internet traffic now comes through Virginia.
“We know that we have to continue to build a workforce to support the cloud capital of the world, which is right here,” the governor said. “And that's also what AWS is committed to. The state-of-the-art data center campuses need extraordinary people to work there. And it's this commitment that AWS has been making and will continue to make to ensure that the workforce is not only trained for today but developed for tomorrow. That is so exciting.”
Amazon announced at the event that an AWS Community Fund for this region is committing $400,000 in grants to local community groups, schools, nonprofits and other organizations.
Darrell E. English, who represents Hartwood on the Stafford Board of Supervisors, said that the partnership with AWS will prove invaluable as the county works to support Marine Corps Base Quantico and defense contractors in cybersecurity efforts, in addition to being an economic boon.
Jacob Lane, representing the Livingston District on the Spotsylvania Board of Supervisors, said that AWS’s investment of at least $6 billion, “will bring much-needed revenue to our community that can be used for schools, public safety, and many other essential services… [to] further enhance the quality of life for county resident. The company has a long history of supporting the community by creating local jobs, creating economic growth, and providing skilled training as well as educational opportunities. Development has already begun on the Cosner Tech campus.” He added that the AWS data centers will generate $13.8 million in average annual tax revenue for the county over a period of 15 years, beginning in 2025.
Jeff Black, Western District member on the Caroline Board of Supervisors, said of the AWS investment: “I did the math on this last night. Our budgets per year range around $55 million… I'm not very good at math. But it was 106 years for us to make that up in our current budget.”