Workforce-credentialing broker filling the HOPFAME chapter gap for seven 2024-2025 capex-burst employers landing 1,862 jobs the existing roster doesn't yet train.

HOPFAME's 20-manufacturer roster is publicly enumerated and excludes all seven 2024-2025 capex-burst newcomers totaling 1,862 reconciled jobs. Each newcomer triggers 25-to-50-person training cohorts on PLC, robotics, OSHA, forklift, and food-safety scope at predictable cadence. BSSC FY2025 ($9.5 million / 30,600 trainees / 115 facilities) named one Christian-resident company (Comefri USA, about 28 workers, November 2024). The KCTCS-TRAINS rail covers up to 75 percent of qualified training cost reimbursement to the college, with employers paying a 25 percent cash match plus a 10 percent administrative fee. HCC's Workforce Solutions is the channel; the founder play is the KCTCS-approved external trainer or the BSSC application-desk specialist.

HCC's Workforce Solutions has fresh leadership bench. VP Workforce Development Carol Kirves, Fort Campbell Campus Director Tara Rascoe, and President Dr. Alissa Young (in role since 2017) are all named on public record. New leadership is the moment a vendor list gets re-walked. The credentialing stack covers Allen-Bradley and Siemens PLC factory certifications; FANUC and ABB robotics certifications; ASNT NDT Level III; OSHA 500 and 501 train-the-trainer; Powered Industrial Truck (forklift) trainer-the-trainer; and food-safety/GMP for Kitchen Food Co. and Cinis Fertilizer-class plants. The realistic founder profile is a returning Rockwell, Siemens, FANUC America, or ABB field engineer, or a senior OSHA-authorized trainer with Kentucky relocation tie.

KCTCS Workforce Solutions delivers internally on workhorse trades (basic OSHA 10/30, basic forklift, basic CDL theory, basic CNC entry). The in-house instructor pool is structurally limited at the niche tier — Allen-Bradley and Siemens PLC at the journeyman level, FANUC and ABB robotics, ASNT NDT Level III sign-off, OSHA 500 and 501 train-the-trainer, food-safety/GMP at the Kitchen Food and Cinis-class scope. National training firms (Hexcel, BIC Training, Penn Foster, Tooling U-SME) compete on TRAINS applications at higher day rates with longer sales cycles. A Christian-resident vendor wins on same-day response and on-site instructor presence at the named-employer site. Carter Hendricks at the South Western Kentucky Economic Development Council is the cross-sell channel for the seven capex newcomers.

The candidate is framed strictly as additive partnership with HCC Workforce Solutions and the HOPFAME chapter, never as displacement. Carol Kirves and Tara Rascoe are public-record references. The candidate names the cohort-formation workload the seven 2024-2025 capex newcomers create that HOPFAME's existing 20-manufacturer chapter is not yet positioned to absorb. KCTCS-TRAINS reimbursement is the funding mechanism; the founder play is the KCTCS-approved external deliverer.

Practice shape. A 1-to-3-person instructor-owner-led practice billing at $1,200 to $2,800 a day delivered: PLC and robotics top end ($2,200 to $2,800); OSHA 30 and forklift trainer-the-trainer mid ($1,500 to $2,000); food-safety and GMP lower ($1,200 to $1,500). Delivery days run 80 to 140 a year, with the balance going to curriculum, sales, and admin. Gross revenue $130,000 to $360,000. Owner take-home $80,000 to $220,000 depending on subcontractor leverage.

Capital and startup. Minimal if the employer hosts on-site. Demo PLC trainer kit costs $8,000 to $15,000 (Allen-Bradley CompactLogix demo plus Siemens S7 demo plus a ladder-logic projector). Robotics simulation seat runs $3,000 to $6,000 a year (RoboGuide for FANUC, RobotStudio for ABB). Curriculum library development is $15,000 to $40,000 up front, building across the first 3 to 5 cohorts. Marketing and sales runs $5,000 to $15,000. HCC Workforce Solutions vendor application plus BSSC vendor registration is $0 in hard cost and about 40 hours of effort.

Pilot contract structure. A single-employer 25-person cohort across 5 instructor days on-site bills 5 days at $1,800 a day for $9,000 in direct billing plus $1,500 to $3,000 in materials and curriculum license plus $800 to $1,500 in travel and per-diem — $11,000 to $14,000 total invoice. The employer's TRAINS, Grant-in-Aid, or Skills Training Investment Credit reimbursement covers up to 75 percent of qualified training costs to the college, with the employer paying a 25 percent cash match plus a 10 percent administrative fee.

Recurring revenue mechanic. HCC corporate-training department referrals plus KCTCS approved-vendor-list referrals across the I-65 and I-69 manufacturing belt produce a six-college regional book of 18 to 30 cohort cycles a year at $11,000 to $22,000 each — $200,000 to $660,000 gross at the stretch case. A single-college baseline at Hopkinsville Community College alone lands $90,000 to $310,000 gross with $60,000 to $170,000 in take-home. The seven-newcomer ramp adds 7 to 12 named-employer cohort cycles a year on top of the regional baseline once the BSSC application desk lands FY26-27 awards.

• Hopkinsville Community College Workforce Solutions — VP Carol Kirves

  Primary vendor-application intake

  Institution

  Carol Kirves (VP Workforce Development), Fort Campbell Campus Director Tara Rascoe, and President Dr. Alissa Young (since 2017). Emerging Technology Building completion late 2025.
• KCTCS Workforce Solutions (Versailles HQ)

  KCTCS system office; system-level vendor-list authority

  Institution

  Cross-college referral mechanic across HCC, Elizabethtown, Madisonville, Henderson, Owensboro Community Colleges in the I-65 and I-69 manufacturing belt.
• Bluegrass State Skills Corporation

  Kentucky Cabinet for Economic Development; Grant-in-Aid and Skills Training Investment Credit administrator

  Out-of-county

  Frankfort. FY2025: $9.5 million / 30,600 trainees / 115 facilities. One Christian-resident named recipient (Comefri USA, November 2024). Zero 2024-2025 capex newcomers received FY2025 awards.
• HOPFAME (Hopkinsville chapter, FAME-USA)

  Federation for Advanced Manufacturing Education chapter

  Institution

  20-manufacturer sponsor roster excludes every 2024-2025 capex-burst newcomer.
• Carter Hendricks at South Western Kentucky Economic Development Council

  Regional EDC; cross-sell channel for the seven capex newcomers

  Institution

  Warm-introduction pathway to plant HR and training leads at Kitchen Food, Cinis, Toyota Boshoku, Microvast, Elevate, EZ-ACCESS, and Martinrea.
• Kitchen Food, Cinis Fertilizer, Toyota Boshoku, Microvast, Elevate, EZ-ACCESS, Martinrea

  Named anchor employers; TRAINS and BSSC application targets

  Institution

  Each triggers 25-to-50-person cohort cycles on PLC, robotics, OSHA, forklift, and food-safety scope. Microvast and Elevate are two distinct projects. Cinis is feedstock-coupled to Ascend Elements.
• Comefri USA (Hopkinsville)

  Christian-resident BSSC FY2025 named recipient

  Active in market

  About 28 workers, November 2024 BSSC approval. Reference benchmark for the BSSC application desk's recurring-cycle volume.
• Hexcel, BIC Training, Penn Foster, Tooling U-SME

  National training firms

  Out-of-county

  Compete on TRAINS applications at higher day rates with longer sales cycles. Christian-resident vendor wins on same-day response and on-site instructor presence.
• Greater Hopkinsville-Christian County Chamber of Commerce and Pennyrile Area Development District

  Regional partner channels for HOPFAME and BSSC outreach

  Institution

  Chamber and Pennyrile ADD support the seven-newcomer cohort coordination.
• Murray State University Hopkinsville, Austin Peay State University, Embry-Riddle

  Four-institution two-state higher-education ecosystem

  Institution

  Murray State Hopkinsville Director Shannon Slate; APSU plus Armored Trucking Academy CDL April 21, 2026 SkillBridge announcement; Embry-Riddle at the Glenn H. English Center inside Fort Campbell Gate 4.

The acquisition lane is build-it for the founder owner-operator scope. There is no existing Christian-resident KCTCS-approved niche-trade external trainer practice serving the 1,862-job seven-newcomer cohort at the operator-tier scope. KCTCS Workforce Solutions delivers internally and brings in national training firms (Hexcel, BIC, Penn Foster) when the niche scope exceeds in-house capacity. The realistic founder builds the practice de novo, lands the first KCTCS Workforce Solutions vendor approval at Hopkinsville Community College, runs a single-employer pilot for one 25-person cohort, and expands to a six-college regional referral book by Year 3.

The highest-yield path is a partnership-then-anchor conversation with one of the existing Kentucky-resident industrial-trades or OSHA-authorized training shops that does not yet have the KCTCS-approved-vendor designation. Kentucky-based safety-and-compliance consultants with OSHA 500 and 501 train-the-trainer credentials, PLC system integrators with Rockwell or Siemens factory authorizations, and FANUC robotics integrators with cert-instructor capacity all carry niche-trade capability but not necessarily the KCTCS Workforce Solutions vendor relationship. The reader becomes the partner first — taking sub-trainer work on $1,200 to $2,800 per day instructor-of-record slices for 6 to 12 months as a named external bench inside an existing safety or PLC consulting firm — and then either anchors the founder LLC or builds out independently from cash flow.

Credentialing scope is mostly portable. OSHA 500 and 501 train-the-trainer authorization is an OSHA-Authorized Training Program intake. Powered Industrial Truck trainer-the-trainer is per-employer self-attestation. PLC certifications are Rockwell-authorized or Siemens-authorized through factory channels. FANUC robotics certifications are FANUC America-authorized through the company's certification academy. The integrated stack runs months, not years, for a credentialed founder coming from a Rockwell, Siemens, FANUC, OSHA, or ASNT background.

• — HCC Workforce Solutions vendor-application timeline and named-vendor-list current state — direct call to Carol Kirves and Tara Rascoe pending.
• — Cohort-cycle calendars at Kitchen Food, Cinis, Toyota Boshoku, Microvast, Elevate, EZ-ACCESS, and Martinrea — precise scheduling cadence and named skill mix not enumerated; HR and training intake direct calls pending.
• — BSSC FY26 round timeline plus named-employer training-vendor approval pathway plus Grant-in-Aid versus Skills Training Investment Credit versus KCTCS-TRAINS scope split — BSSC administrator at the Kentucky Cabinet for Economic Development direct call pending.
• — Comefri USA Hopkinsville BSSC November 2024 award scope plus recurring-cycle volume — verification of FY25 actuals and FY26 application status.
• — HOPFAME 2.0 chapter charter — whether the 20-manufacturer chapter expands to absorb seven newcomers or whether a parallel chapter is structurally required.
• — Ascend Elements Chapter 11 sale-hearing impact on Cinis Fertilizer feedstock dependency. If Cinis-65-jobs collapses, the cohort total reduces by 65; if the Ascend successor restarts, the cohort total expands.
• — KCTCS-TRAINS 75/25/10 split versus prior brief framing — corrected; cross-verify with KCTCS sister-college FAQs and the Versailles headquarters.
• — Murray State Hopkinsville, Austin Peay, and Embry-Riddle four-institution two-state cohort-coordination opportunity — direct intake at Murray State Hopkinsville Director Shannon Slate and the APSU SkillBridge office pending.

Tonight, this week, this month — in that order. Each step produces a yes/no or a number, not a deeper understanding.