••• SPONSORED SECTION •••
STEP-BY-STEP INSTRUCTIONS
Schools and companies are partnering to meet Gaston County’s workforce needs. Their efforts start with helping high school students discover careers and continue through sharpening current workers’ skills.
When KNOLL America announced it was
building a nearly $8 million headquarters and factory in Apple Creek Corporate Center, its CEO, Lothar Burger, cited two benefits for choosing Gaston County. Transportation, especially its proximity to interstates and Charlotte Douglas International Airport, was one. And the opportunity to work with Gaston College was the other. “KNOLL America’s partnership with Gaston College, especially through its apprenticeship program, has been a cornerstone of its workforce development strategy since the 2021 announcement of the Gaston County facility,” he says. “Recognition of the college’s role highlights how vital local educational institutions can be in building a skilled talent pipeline.”
The relationship runs in reverse, too. “KNOLL America serves on the advisory board at Gaston College, providing valuable input on curriculum development and other key industry-related topics,” Burger says. “This collaboration is essential to ensuring that both the college and its students remain at the forefront of technical education. By aligning academic programs with real-world manufacturing needs, KNOLL helps prepare a highly skilled workforce ready to meet the demands of modern industry.”
The German supplier of conveyor and filtration systems opened its headquarters and factory in September. And KNOLL America won’t be the last manufacturer to choose Gaston County. “[It] is a manufacturing hub, which helps us easily attract new manufacturers to the area,” says Alisha Summey, Gaston County Economic Development Commission assistant director. “Out of all industries, manufacturing creates the most employment and wages in the county, followed by healthcare. Gaston County has a variety of manufacturing clusters, including textiles, food products, machinery, chemicals, transportation equipment and fabricated metal products.”
Summey says more international companies are investing in Gaston County. “There is over $450 million in foreign direct investment in our county, including, but not limited to, investments from Canada, Singapore, Italy, Japan, Denmark, Finland, Netherlands, Israel, China and Germany,” she says. “In 2024 and thus far in 2025, the majority of the prospects we interact with have been manufacturers from Germany, Italy, Canada and China. Most of these prospects are looking to own their facilities, and most have quick timelines for site location decisions. There are over 20 active projects in which Gaston County has been shortlisted, and a couple of those expect to make a final decision by the end of Q4 2025. Gaston County is open for business, including all industries, but continues to thrive on the success of industrial manufacturing.”
Gaston County checks many boxes for companies looking to relocate or expand. But one of the biggest is specialized workforce development, such as the work-based learning Gaston College tailors to KNOLL America’s needs. Creating that often happens before the first shovel of dirt is turned.
Working together
Gaston College’s Division of Economic and Workforce Development served more than 12,000 people during the 2024-25 fiscal year. “High school and college programs play a critical role in workforce training and customized training when it comes to recruiting new industries to Gaston County,” Summey says. “Companies making location decisions often ask one key question first: ‘Can we find the skilled workers we need here?’ And it’s our role as the EDC to give them the confidence it can be found here.”
Greg Smith is Gaston College’s vice president of economic and workforce development. Gaston County EDC notifies his department when a company expresses interest in Gaston County. “We get called to the EDC office, and we meet with the company and are involved in the recruiting effort,” he says. “They visit, do a site visit, and our part is to tell how we can provide training to get them up and running. It’s all done by code. We may not know the name of the company, but they know we can work with very specific things for their training over a three-year period.”
Workforce development in Gaston County doesn’t fit within the typical teacher-student structure found in many classrooms. “The number of companies and industrial parks are expanding and growing constantly,” Smith says. “So, the state Legislature provides funding for the community college system for training for these companies, whether to add employees or train existing workers if they’re doing capital improvements or expanding. Training is free if it’s run through the community college.”
Gaston College sends experts to teach on-site at the company. “We may send an instructor to a place at 3 a.m. to do healthcare with the shift that’s there,” Smith says. “Since they qualify for training funds, we handle the hiring of the instructor and provide the records to show it’s been conducted.”
Apprenticeship 321 debuted in 2015, when Gaston College was North Carolina’s only college or university and only one of five nationwide approved by the U.S. Department of Labor as a registered sponsor of an apprentice program. Apprenticeship 321 offers tuition-free training and a salary to participating students. It has grown to 26 occupational pathways from four and increased its participating employers to 22 from four. Sixteen of them are advanced manufacturers, and the balance are healthcare related.
Fifty-five high school juniors and seniors at 12 high schools are enrolled in Gaston College’s pre-apprenticeship program this fall. “Pre-apprenticeship is a career exploration opportunity that serves as a recruiting tool not only for college but for our local industries as it makes high school students and their parents aware of the greater opportunities in our service area,” Smith says.
Gaston College’s Textile Technology Center, which is at its Kimbrell Campus in Belmont, uses in-person, hands-on and online courses for entry-level and industry-updated training in fiber and textile innovation. Training will expand through the campus’ Fiber Innovation Center, which opened in the spring. Its 39,000 square feet includes an extrusion lab, spun yarn and filament processing rooms, and space for entrepreneurs, who are developing the next generation of textiles.
There’s plenty of current demand for Gaston College’s workforce efforts. Work-Based Learning served 118 students and 90 employers; it bridges those groups, helping students gain job experience while earning college credits. Customized Industry Training, funded by NC Edge, helped more than 30 companies by providing on-site training and professional development classes. And it has posted 2,500 jobs to College Central Network since 2022.
Training starts early
Gaston County students have options. There are 11 traditional high schools, plus Gaston Early College of Medical Sciences, where students graduate with a high school diploma and an associate degree in a healthcare field. There is Gaston Virtual Academy, an online private school, and Highland School of Technology. Students at Gaston Early College High School earn up to two years’ worth of transferable college credits wrapped up in an arts, science or engineering associate degree.
Russell Parker is Gaston County Schools’ career and technical education director. “I think the goal for us is to see how we can help children while they’re still in high school, help them find that career direction while they’re here,” he says. “For example, a student can go through the path and take classes like Nursing Fundamentals and get their CNA1 in high school and not pay for it while in college. Certifications are structured so that industries recognize them in their hiring practices. They’re lined up with what the industry would need. It’s not created by the school system. It’s created by industry leaders.”
At its Career Signing Day for the Class of 2025, Gaston high school seniors signed letters of intent with seven local companies, including Dixon Quick Coupling, Webb Metals Recycling and GSM Services. “At GSM Services, we recognize that the future of our workforce begins with the students in Gaston County Schools,” says Donna Caskey, director of recruiting and retention for the nearly century-old family-owned company that signed three students. “Our partnership includes participating in local job fairs, classroom visits and career awareness events, where we introduce students to the HVAC and construction industries. We provide opportunities for job shadowing, internships and summer work experiences that allow students to gain hands-on exposure while learning the skills that make them job ready. We also collaborate with school leaders and career-development coordinators to ensure curriculum and training align with the technical and soft skills needed in today’s workplace such as reliability, teamwork and problem solving.”
Caskey says strong partnerships are one of Gaston County’s greatest advantages. “The schools and [Career and Technical Education] program introduce students early to the skilled trades, giving them hands-on exposure and a clearer picture of career opportunities in HVAC and construction,” she says.
“From there, Gaston College provides advanced training, certifications and continuing education that build on those foundations. For GSM Services, this means we can partner at multiple levels, engaging students in high school through job fairs, shadowing and apprenticeships while also working with the college to ensure our co-workers have access to ongoing training and credentialing.”
Addressing needs
Parker’s to-do list starts with making more connections in several industries. “We’re working on beefing up our manufacturing program, and we’re pursuing an aviation pathway,” he says. “The other thing we’re doing right now in our district is to have more CTE in what our community needs and partnering with CaroMont Health and Atrium. Meet all the needs of the business community — that’s our goal.”
CaroMont Health’s flagship — 476-bed CaroMont Regional Medical Center — opened nearly 80 years ago in Gastonia. The healthcare system opened a 54-bed hospital in Belmont, part of a 28-acre medical campus near Belmont Abbey College, in January. It was the final project in its 2019 commitment to invest more than $400 million in construction and expansions in Gaston County.
CaroMont Health has 10 educational partnerships, including ones with Gaston County Schools, Gaston College and Belmont Abbey College. “Our engagement with high school students includes a dedicated career club that brings students directly into CaroMont Regional Medical Center,” says Meghan Berney, CaroMont manager of communications and media. “This hands-on program allows high school students to explore healthcare careers firsthand, giving them exposure to the hospital environment and various healthcare roles before they commit to a specific educational pathway.”
Berney says community needs have expanded the partnerships’ scope beyond nursing. “These partnerships offer extensive experiential learning opportunities across multiple healthcare specialties: Master of Healthcare Administration, Certified Nursing Assistant, Licensed Practical Nurse, Registered Nurse bridge programs and associate degrees in nursing, medical assisting, surgical technician, radiography and sonography,” she says. “The design of each program employs best practices in health sciences education and is informed by the real-world needs of the modern healthcare system.”
CaroMont Health’s work with Gaston College earned statewide recognition for its practical nursing apprenticeship program in 2023.
“These partnerships have created a robust pipeline of qualified healthcare professionals entering our workforce, directly addressing critical staffing needs while providing local students with clear, accessible pathways into stable healthcare careers,” Berney says.
Gaston College was a top 10 Bellwether Award finalist in 2023 and 2024 for its healthcare apprenticeship programs with CaroMont. It won the 2025 Governor’s NCWorks Award of Distinction in the category of Outstanding Innovative Partnership.
Living better
Gastonia’s Franklin Boulevard and Main Avenue corridor continues to be reshaped by the $25 million FUSE District, which began to be built at the end of 2019.. A focal point of the multiphase mixed-use development is CaroMont Health Park, which hosts concerts, events and baseball games. It’s home to the Gastonia Ghost Peppers. This year was the team’s inaugural season in the Southern Division of the Atlantic League, a partner league of Major League Baseball.
Gaston County is adding businesses and people. Gastonia’s population was 85,535 in 2024, up about 5,000 from four years prior, according to the U.S. Census Bureau. FUSE is helping meet the need for more housing. Lansing Melbourne Group spent about $25 million to convert Gastonia’s oldest standing textile mill into Trenton Mill Lofts, where 85 units started renting in 2022. Kuester Management Group completed a 90-apartment complex — Center City Crossing — last summer on Main Avenue. It also was a $25 million investment.
In eastern Gaston County, the city of Belmont added almost 900 residents between 2020 and 2024, according to the U.S. Census Bureau, bringing its population to 16,044.
It recently concluded 15 months of community engagement and analysis to create Our Belmont, its updated comprehensive land use plan, multimodal network plan and update to the Wilkinson Boulevard Small Area Plan. It addresses needs related to its growth.
Transportation issues usually accompany growing populations. Our Belmont plan includes recommendations for addressing these needs, including a Belmont Trolley that connects downtown with Belmont Abbey College, Mount Holly, and other destinations in the county; a rapid transit bus line along Wilkinson Boulevard; express bus service to Charlotte’s employment hubs; and enhanced rail connectivity. Roadway improvements, including bicycle and pedestrian pathways, are included in the plan. ■
— Kathy Blake is a writer from eastern North Carolina.
For 40 years, sharing the stories of North Carolina's dynamic business community.