The R3 Center Records consist of reports, presentations, a newspaper article, a brochure, and a poem documenting Rowan-Cabarrus Community College's (RCCC) efforts to retrain and re-employ workers displaced by the 2003 closing of the Pillowtex textile manufacturing plant in Kannapolis, North Carolina. Known as the Pillowtex Project, ...
MoreThe R3 Center Records consist of reports, presentations, a newspaper article, a brochure, and a poem documenting Rowan-Cabarrus Community College's (RCCC) efforts to retrain and re-employ workers displaced by the 2003 closing of the Pillowtex textile manufacturing plant in Kannapolis, North Carolina. Known as the Pillowtex Project, this initiative was intended to provide the displaced workers with the training and education necessary to obtain new jobs. The success of this project led to the September 2006 development and implementation of the R3 Center, a partnership between RCCC and the North Carolina Research Campus (NCRC), which prepares workers for new biotechnology jobs at the NCRC. Most of the materials document the outcomes of the Pillowtex Project, rather than the planning or process. The materials range in date from 2004 to 2006, although the date of individual items is sometimes unclear. Kannapolis, North Carolina, was once home to Cannon Mills, at one time the largest manufacturer of sheets and towels in the world. James William Cannon founded Cannon mills in 1906. After several ownership changes throughout the 1980s, the Pillowtex Corporation acquired the mills in 1997. In 2003, Pillowtex Corporation closed its doors, laying off 4,340 people living in Kannapolis or the counties surrounding the city. In December 2004, David Murdock purchased the former Cannon Mills Plant One at auction and in 2005, in partnership with the University of North Carolina system, announced plans for the North Carolina Research Campus, a 1.5 billion dollar scientific and economic revitalization project. As part of this effort, Rowan-Cabarrus Community College developed and implemented the R3 (Refocus, Retrain, Reemploy) Center at the NCRC, designed to train a local workforce for opportunities at the NCRC.
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