from the News & Record - The Center for Coatings Applied Research and Education (C-CARE), on Tuesday, received $1,052,000 from the Southside Economic Development Committee of the Virginia Tobacco Commission at the Commission meeting in Richmond.

C-CARE will be a state-of-the-art center in Riverstone Technology Park to identify and help commercialize solutions in the surface engineering field as well as provide a high-quality workforce in related areas. “Surface engineering” is concerned with how wood, metal, composite and other surfaces can be coated, treated or otherwise finished to provide specific performance, appearance and/or sustainability characteristics.

The project will occupy the Hi-Bay area of the Riverstone Centre and plans to:

• establish a “one-stop-shop” of surface engineering expertise for research, development and workforce development, with equipment and facilities that will attract world-class engineering solutions providers as well as companies seeking research and development services.
• leverage existing assets in the region and state, particularly the modeling/simulation center at Riverstone Energy Center and the Commonwealth Center for Advanced Manufacturing (C-CAM) in Prince George County (C-CAM research will be extended through a dedicated lab in Riverstone). 
• provide a location for activity around which companies will choose to locate, resulting in new, high-wage jobs for Southside residents.

“We are excited that the Tobacco Commission and the Board of Supervisors are supporting this project. It is another step forward in advancing the workforce throughout the Tobacco Region and will be led by the Industrial Development Authority of Halifax County (IDA), in partnership with the Southern Virginia Higher Education Center and the University of Virginia,” said Mike Sexton, executive director of the Industrial Development Authority of Halifax County.

“Congratulations and a sincere thanks to all the IDA staff who worked so hard over Christmas and the holidays and last week, Ed Owens for his tremendous leadership work, influence, and persistence with the Tobacco Commission, Dr. Betty Adams for her great letter of support and leadership, David Kenealy who put us on track from the beginning and kept us there, the Board of Supervisors for their leadership and unbelievably important full support on such short notice,” said Ted Bennett, IDA board member and committee chair for the project.