FAME — Built by Baldwin
By Michael Dumas
There will soon be more incredible access to training, job placement and long-term employment in a variety of manufacturing fields thanks to a new partnership with Baldwin County companies, Coastal Alabama Community College and statewide workforce development organizations. On Thursday, officials announced the creation of Baldwin County’s new FAME — Built By Baldwin chapter, which will initially train up to 15 students who will then be paid to work at one of 10 local companies who sponsor them.
FAME, which stands for the Federation for Advanced Manufacturing Education, is the “gold standard” and national model for workforce development and advanced manufacturing. And the organization operates more than 40 chapters in 16 states, with Built By Baldwin being the 9th of an eventual 11 chapters in Alabama, making it “the most FAME-saturated state in the country,” according to Alyson Jackson, deputy director of FAME USA.
Starting in Fall 2025, Coastal Alabama Community College students will enter the Built By Baldwin work-study program in pursuit of an Advanced Manufacturing Technician (AMT) credential, attending classroom instruction two days per week, with the remaining three days spent working at one of the sponsor companies. The AMT field is also known as mechatronics.
“The structure is to emulate a 40-hour workweek,” said Jennifer Crawford, president of the FAME Built By Baldwin chapter. “Students will be taking the classroom knowledge and applying it to the employer workplace, so they will have that real-world, hands-on experience.”
Crawford works for Vulcan, Inc., one of the 10 inaugural chapter sponsors, whose representatives signed agreements on Thursday at the Fairhope Campus of Coastal Alabama, essentially launching the Built By Baldwin chapter. The other partner companies are Novelis, Segers, Quincy Compressor, Coca-Cola, Collins Aerospace, Gulf Packaging, Inc., Krishna, Ecovery, and Saunders Yachtworks.
Amanda Selph, who works for Novelis — one of Baldwin County’s newest manufactures, which is constructing an aluminum plant in Bay Minette — said once it’s up and running, the company has pledged to create up to 1,000 jobs in its first three years. A well-trained employee base is imperative to achieving that goal, she said.
“Rather than us fishing for talent from other areas, we want to create opportunities for people here to work local, to up-skill, and to change their own lives, and programs like FAME Built By Baldwin are just the beginning,” Selph said.
The Southwest Alabama Workforce Development Council (SAWDC) is also contributing to the mechatronics program, which is the further evidence of the collaborative spirit needed to develop such significant opportunities.
“No one can have the impact we can on workforce development and helping our students achieve their dreams in the state of Alabama,” said Dr. Aaron Milner, president of Coastal Alabama Community College. “As is evidenced today, we’re not just talking about the workforce development challenges we face in southwest Alabama, we’re doing something about it.”
Matching curriculum and industry has become a hallmark of the College’s workforce development initiatives, creating more and more “industrial athletes,” who are empowered to increase their skill sets, maximize their career opportunities en route to fulfilling and purposeful lives.
“We want to create that industrial athlete, ready for industry 4.0, who can do it all — a true multi-skilled individual to have the range necessary and needed to serve all these industries,” said Dr. Josh Duplantis, Dean of Workforce Development at Coastal Alabama Community College. “And that’s what we plan on doing.” Competitive recruitment for FAME Built By Baldwin will take place Spring 2025, with the first cohort of students starting in Fall 2025. Details and application materials can be found at https://fame-usa.com/fame…/alabama-fame/built-by-baldwin/ or by contacting Jennifer Crawford at jennifer.crawford@vulcaninc.com or Amanda Selph at amanda.selph@novelis.c