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Southside Virginia Community College received some help this week to fund its Career Coaching Program. Urban Grid gave the school a $9,000 grant, as well as a scholarship for the college’s solar worker training program.

Urban Grid is a solar developer with operations in this region. The company operates “Urban Grid Gives,” set up to support any communities where they have projects either proposed, developed or currently being built.

“Southside Virginia Community College is committed to building dreams, transforming lives, sustaining communities, and providing instruction for anyone who wants the opportunity to build upon their educational foundation,’’ said Dr. Quentin R. Johnson, SVCC President. “By funding programs key to job creation in the clean energy economy, Urban Grid is helping to ensure the relevance of the southside workforce with real-world skills.”

Urban Grid officials said training more people to work in solar benefits everyone in this area.

“We believe that all solar development is local and have designed our Urban Grid Gives initiative to partner with organizations making a lasting impact in the communities they serve. Like Southside Virginia Community College, our solar energy projects will bring a lifetime of benefit to the community with the generation of clean, affordable energy,” said Rob Propes, Urban Grid Development Manager. “Contributing to the economic development of rural counties in Virginia is central to our belief that the transition to clean energy can benefit everyone in the community, beyond those directly involved in our projects, and long after our projects are established.”