Howard Community College in Columbia, Maryland, has announced two gifts totaling $1.2 million in support of construction and programming of the college’s Workforce Development and Skilled Trades Center (WDTC).

The gifts include $1 million from an unnamed local family and $200,000 from Apple Ford Lincoln, a local car dealership, which will support construction of a 50,000-square-foot facility where future professionals in welding, plumbing, HVAC, and automotive trades will be trained. The WDTC will be the second project to break ground in three years at the college, following the 160,000-square-foot Kahlert Foundation Complex, which will open in January 2025.

“This is a truly historic day for our campus community and for Howard County,” said Howard Community College president Daria J. Willis. “To have raised more than $42 million in less than six months through proposed funding from our county government, preauthorized funding from the State of Maryland, and from community members supporting us in equal fashion is both gratifying and humbling. This community believes in workforce development as an anti-poverty, anti-racism catalyst for success among all residents. We could not be prouder to anchor this county as the premier resource for teaching, learning, training, and culture.”

(Photo credit: Getty Images/RichVintage)