VOLUME 15 NUMBER 3 ■ COLUMBIABUSINESSREPORT.COM
Part of the
network
Cultural districts
Districts recertified across S.C. for cultural significance. Page 4
MARCH 28-APRIL 10, 2022 ■ $2.25
App assesses community police effort By Melinda Waldrop
A Devine sale
Office building on Devine Street sells for $1.5 million. Page 5
Wingman
Breeze Airways founder finds value in discount air. Page 9
Business hub
Developer plans corporate center at $3.5 billion site. Page 10
BUILDING THE PIPELINE Programs target skilled workforce
Broderick Smith (left), a student in the plumbing certificate program at Midlands Technical College’s Airport campus, works on a project with instructor Devan Jordan. (Photo/Christina Lee Knauss)
MTC among SC schools creating opportunity By Christina Lee Knauss
INSIDE
Upfront................................. 2 SC Biz News Briefs................. 3 In Focus: Education and Workforce.................... 13 List: Colleges and Universities .......................................... 19 At Work............................... 21 Viewpoint............................23
M
Contributing Writer
idland Technical College’s inaugural South Carolina Welding Skills Competition did more than give more than 40 students from across the state the chance to show off their skills and win valuable gear. The competition, held Feb. 25, also aimed to get students excited about careers in the fast-growing welding field, as well as the school’s certificate programs and two-year degree in the industry. Welders are in high demand in South
Carolina and nationwide, with demand projected to grow around 8% by 2030, but U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics project an estimated annual shortage of more than 49,000 workers. That pipeline problem is mirrored in skilled trades across the board. A Feb. 8 report from the U.S. Chamber of Commerce estimated 11.3 million job openings around the country but just 6.3 million unemployed workers. Fields like durable goods manufacturing have more job openings than there are available workers with experience See WORKFORCE, Page 15
Keeping Columbia competitive
Midlands attracts entrepreneurs but struggles to retain talent. Page 13
mwaldrop@scbiznews.com
new community policing app, developed through a partnership between Serve & Connect and Nephron Pharmaceuticals Corp., will help assess how interactions between law enforcement and communities affect public safety and impact public trust, organizers say. The app, kickstarted by a $10,000 Nephron investment, will be fine-tuned during the next six months by a workgroup made up of S.C. police representatives and community leaders. Its goal is to identify and promote best practices in law enforcement/community relations while providing transparency and measurable data. “It helps us figure out what we need to do and what’s working and what’s not,” Nephron owner and CEO Lou Kennedy told the Columbia Regional Business Report. “That’s important, and I can’t believe we didn’t already have something like this in place.” Community policing, defined by the U.S. Department of Justice as a philosophy that promotes the systemic use of partnerships and proactive, problem-solving techniques to address the immediate conditions that give rise to crime, lacks hard data to determine its effectiveness, said Kassy Alia Ray, founder and CEO of Serve & Connect, an S.C. nonprofit focused on bringing police and citizens together to address the root causes of crime and promote community safety. That’s where the app comes in. See NEPHRON, Page 6