News & Announcements

Civic and business leaders from across the area gathered for the Regional Chamber Breakfast at the CREATE Technology and Innovation Center, located at 1 Cliff Garrett Drive, on Thursday, April 3, 2025. The event was hosted by the Calhoun County Chamber of Commerce, CREATE, the city of Oxford, and Gadsden State Community College.

For many of the 100-plus attending, it was their first chance to tour the new center which will open its doors to students from Calhoun, Cleburne, Clay, Talladega, and St. Clair counties in August 2025. The unique workforce/educational experience has spent its first year of existence training 300 Oxford city students as well as offering evening classes for adults.

The new school year will also see several new career pathways added to the CREATE curriculum.

Lorie Denton, Director of Partnerships and Support, welcomed those attending and spoke of the “great things that are happening in this building.”

Mayor Alton Craft praised the efforts of Oxford City Schools Superintendent Dr. Shannon Stanley in bringing the idea to fruition in such a short period of time.

“We were on the same page in what we felt needed to be done,” Craft said. “She and her staff worked at warp speed to create something fantastic. Developing a workforce is important for us to continue to grow.”

Stanley echoed Mayor Craft's praise, saying, “You brought up a lot of great things in our conversations.”

“The mission for us, from day one, is we need all the other school systems in our school district to understand this is about ‘we’ and not just about Oxford,” Stanley said. “It is about the people in our region getting together to reinforce our workforce development. I credit Mayor Craft for having this regional concept.”

Vis1on One students from Oxford High School made themselves available as tour guides, explaining the purpose of each class area and equipment in the building.