RICHMOND CITY COUNCIL
Richmond City Council – Richmond City Hall - 900 E. Broad Street, Suite 200 - Richmond, VA 23219 - www.council.richmondva.gov
COUNCIL PUBLIC INFORMATION NEWS ADVISORY
IMMEDIATE RELEASE TO BE FORWARDED AND SHARED
Thursday, 5 April 2012
Councilman Doug Conner announces Richmond City Council Career and Technical Education Center Feasibility Study to begin Phase 1
Study to be performed by the highly regarded Manchester Bidwell Corporation
WHAT The Honorable Doug G. Conner, Councilman, Richmond City Council South Central 9th District, announces that the Richmond City Council Career and Technical Education Center Study will begin Phase 1.
The study will be performed by William E. (Bill) Strickland, Jr., Founder, President and CEO of the Manchester Bidwell Corporation. Considered to be an expert in the field of career and technical education, Mr. Strickland was recently selected by U. S. President Barack H. Obama to serve on the White House Council for Community Solutions and the U.S. National Endowment for the Arts. Mr. Strickland is a MacArthur Fellowship Genus Award winner and the three-time subject of Harvard Business School case studies.
Phase 1 of the study will include interviews with stakeholders and shareholders from across the city. Interviews will include those with the City of Richmond, Art organizations, HDL Laboratory Corporation (A healthcare provider), Richmond City Council Career and Technical Education Commission and others.
WHEN Arriving the evening of Tuesday, April 10, 2012
Performing interviews all day on Wednesday, April 11, 2012
WHERE Richmond locations
WHO The Honorable Doug Conner, Councilman, Richmond City Council, South Central 9th District, and Chairman, Richmond City Council Career and Technical Education Commission
CONTACT For more information, please contact The Honorable Doug Conner, Councilman, Richmond City Council, South Central 9th District, at 804.233.8288, or doug.conner@richmondgov.com.
BACKGROUND __________________________________________________________________________
Background on Manchester Bidwell and William E. Strickland, Jr.
William E. (Bill) Strickland, Jr. is the Founder, President and CEO of Manchester Bidwell Corporation and its subsidiaries, Manchester Craftsmen’s Guild (MCG) and Bidwell Training Center (BTC), founded in 1968 in Pittsburg, Pennsylvania.
Mr. Strickland was recently selected by U. S. President Barack H. Obama to serve on the White House Council for Community Solutions and the U.S. National Endowment for the Arts. Mr. Strickland is a MacArthur Fellowship Genus Award winner and the three-time subject of Harvard Business School case studies. Mr. Strickland has completed the development of a new 40,000 sq. ft. production greenhouse, created for the development of Phalaenopsis orchids and hydroponics vegetables; a 70,000 sq. ft. medical technology complex, which has exceeded eight million dollars in value; and a 62,000 sq. ft. facility as a mortgage free asset for both MCG and BTC. The facilities include a 350-seat music/lecture hall, library, arts studios and labs, dining and meeting rooms, state-of-the-art award winning audio and video recording studios, serve as a demonstration site for Hewlett Packard and Steelcase equipment and are home to 25,000 Phalaenopsis orchids that are cultivated for wholesale distribution.
Please find the following video of Mr. Strickland at:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E_lSduJYbLo&feature=player_embedded
Background on the Richmond City Council Career and Technical Education Commission
Established by Richmond City Council on December 14, 2009 by Council Resolution number 2009-R166-194, the Richmond City Council Career and Technical Education Commission was born out of a Career and Technical Education Task Force organized in 2007 by Councilman Doug Conner. On November 28, 2007, Richmond City Council held a Richmond Regional Forum on Career and Technical Education that included presentations and discussions on model schools from around the country. Since that time the members of the Task Force and Commission have been holding regular organizational and planning meetings.
The goal of the Commission is to explore the development of career and technical education options for K-12th grade students, young adults, displaced workers and those reentering the workforce and to identify and review various existing career and technical education providers to determine which are employing “best practices” educational and training techniques and which might be the best model for Richmond. The Commission is to provide Richmond Public Schools with its final recommendations concerning the provision of career and technical education within 12 months of the final member being appointed to the Commission.
The Richmond City Council Career and Technical Education Commission includes the following 21 members:
• A Member of the Richmond City Council Health, Human Services and Education Standing Committee, who shall serve as Chairman;
• A member of the Richmond Public Schools Board of Trustees;
• A representative from the Richmond Public Schools Administration;
• A representative from the Richmond Public Schools Richmond Technical Center Advisory Board
• A representative from the Richmond Department of Economic Development
• A representative from the Greater Richmond Partnership;
• A representative from the Richmond Capital Regional Workforce Investment Board;
• A representative from the American Federation of Labor and Congress of Industrial Organizations (AFL-CIO), a federation of international labor unions.
• A representative from the Greater Richmond Chamber of Commerce;
• Ten at-large members who shall either be Richmond residents or operated businesses in the city; and
• Two members appointed by the Mayor by letter to the Richmond City Council Office of the City Clerk.
Richmond City Council has previously appropriated $75,000 to assist a study on the ways to enhance vocational and technical education options within the city of Richmond.
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Steven R. Skinner, APR
Council Public Information Manager
RICHMOND CITY COUNCIL
OFFICE OF THE COUNCIL CHIEF OF STAFF
Richmond City Hall
900 E. Broad Street, Suite 305
Richmond, Virginia 23219
804.646.6052 (office)
804.335.4054 (mobile)
804.937.1386 (home/mobile)
804.646.5468 (fax)
steven.skinner@richmondgov.com (email)
www.council.richmondva.gov(website)
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MISSION The mission of Richmond City Council
is to represent citizens in creating and amending
local laws, providing government policy and
oversight, and approving the city budget.
VISION Richmond City Council is committed to
creating a vibrant community that is a great place
to live, work, learn, play, visit and raise a family.
