The Halifax Educational Foundation, Inc. (HEF) was established in 1997 as a non-profit organization dedicated to the goal of affordable and accessible educational opportunities for the citizens of Southern Virginia. The foundation initiated a successful capital campaign for the renovation of the 70,000 square foot historic former Export Leaf Tobacco Warehouse located in downtown South Boston, Virginia, which was donated to the Foundation in December 1997. In 2001, the foundation renovated and furnished the Export Leaf Tobacco Warehouse, and in August of that year, a ribbon-cutting was held for the state-of-the-art Southern Virginia Higher Education Center (SVHEC) facility, with high-performance technology as a priority and theme throughout the building. From that humble beginning in 1997 to today, the SVHEC serves as a beacon of this community’s commitment to education to anyone crossing the Dan River into the Town of South Boston.

Since then, the HEF has been successful in responding to the needs for expansion of the SVHEC due to the rapidly increasing enrollment of students at the facility. In 2004, additional unfinished space in the building was renovated for an Advanced Technology Lab for workforce development. Furnished and equipped through partnerships and grants, this lab utilizes high-performance manufacturing equipment to instruct students and train them for employment. In 2005, through grants and contributions, the number of parking spots at the SVHEC was more than doubled. The following year, the renovation of additional unfinished space in the West Wing of the SVHEC provided additional classrooms and office space. In 2008, the HEF renovated even more previously unfinished space in the current SVHEC building to create a high-tech cutting edge nursing training center, the Center for Nursing Excellence (CNE). 2009 brought the renovation of more previously unfinished space to create the Business of Art & Design Lab, providing space for Advanced Manufacturing training. In support of the educational opportunities available at the SVHEC and as a commitment to the education of citizens of Southern Virginia, the HEF also sponsors a scholarship program for students at the SVHEC.

Currently, a student at the SVHEC can earn a degree from a GED to a PhD without leaving the South Boston town limits. Southern Virginia was particularly hard-hit with job losses even before the current national recession began. New industries being recruited to this area find a willing supply of available workers who need retraining and additional education is required for reentry into the workforce. Due once again to ever increasing enrollment numbers, the HEF is currently responding to the need for expansion of the SVHEC by renovating the American Tobacco Warehouse (ATW) Building, which is just down the street from the current SVHEC building and the Prizery (South Boston’s cultural and arts center). The former ATW Building, built in the 19^th century and now being called the Innovation Center, was donated to the HEF by Eva Harris and her son, Mike. This center will be operated by the SVHEC to provide programs in Product Design & Development and Digital Art & Design, with advanced technology and digital design laboratories. Also included in the Innovation Center is an R & D Center for Advanced Manufacturing & Energy Efficiencies. When the renovation is completed in late 2010, this facility will provide space for the critical education and workforce training programs needed for high-tech and highly skilled 21^st-century jobs for the citizens of Southern Virginia.

This trio of historic buildings in downtown South Boston, the SVHEC, the Prizery and the ATW Building, form a campus of high-performance, technology driven facilities available for cultural, educational, job training and workforce development opportunities for the citizens of Southern Virginia. Those citizens are responding in record numbers to this invitation by their utilization of these programs. The clear message is that the Halifax Educational Foundation has the vision needed to continue to revitalize this community and to re-energize and retrain its workforce through the SVHEC in response to ever-changing educational and business needs.

This is an artist’s rendering of how the Innovation Center will appear when the historic
American Tobacco Warehouse renovation is completed in late 2010.