From the Danville Expressway, the Regional Center for Advanced Technology & Training appears out of place. The building is located several miles from Danville Community College’s South Main Street campus.

RCATT was born in this community more than a decade ago to give new and existing businesses and industries a place to train workers and job applicants. Today, it occupies an important - and obvious - place in the Dan River Region’s economic development plan.

Consider Swedwood, the furniture maker that’s building a new plant in Cane Creek Centre. Over the next decade, Swedwood will hire 740 workers, making it the region’s largest single economic development catch in recent years. During that time, the company will invest a staggering $281 million in this community.

In response to the decisions by Swedwood and Yorktowne Cabinetry (540 jobs and a $19 million local investment) to build plants here, RCATT has established the Center for Advanced Manufacturing and Wood Products Technology.

“Initially, we thought we were losing wood products manufacturing in this area, but with Yorktowne and Swedwood, there seems to be a reversal of fortunes,” said Jeff Arnold, RCATT’s director of business, industry and economic assistance. “So with the number of workers they needed to staff the facilities, we decided to look at a training program to train new employees and upgrade the skills of incumbent employees.”

RCATT’s role is to meet the needs of our changing economy by creating customized programs instead of sending people through the existing degree tracks offered by DCC.

 “The strategy is to go first with the incumbent work force and then look at the long-term needs,” DCC President Carlyle Ramsey said of RCATT. “We want to be sure to help the company find, train and acclimate employees.”

RCATT started to fulfill its promise long before it moved to the Cyber Park. In the early years, the program occupied space in the old Sears building downtown. Today, it is helping Swedwood hire its first 20 employees from a pool of more than 1,000 applicants.

The Regional Center for Advanced Technology & Training has always been an important part of the community’s economic development plan. With more jobs coming to the community, RCATT’s unique and vital role is more important than ever.