In 2001, Barnes created the OneGeorgia Authority with funding from the state's tobacco-settlement money. The fund will promote economic development projects in Tier 1 and Tier 2 counties. The project has funded measures such as a $348,955 grant for infrastructure improvements to a 55-acre (22-ha.) industrial park in Brantley County, with close proximity to Interstate 95 and the Brunswick Port Terminals.
        Last April, Gov. Barnes approved a $15 million grant for the Technology Training Center at East Central Technical College (ECTC) in Fitzgerald, in south central Georgia. The new 80,000-sq.-ft. (7,400 sq.-m.) center will help ECTC graduate 800 information technology students a year. The grant is an added plum for the area, which had been identified by a PricewatershouseCoopers (PWC) study as a region with available telecommunications assets.
        The newly organized Ben Hill- Irwin County Joint Development Authority (JDA) jumped on the bandwagon and began the development of a technology business park, Millennium Technology Pointe. There are 17 sites available in the park, and ZCorum, an Alpharetta-based broadband solutions company is opening a 20,000-sq.-ft. (1,860-sq.-m.) data center. The firm will initially employ 50 workers at a medium salary between $25,000 and $40,000 -- significantly higher than the region's average of $18,000.
        The company is also opening an additional site in Swainsboro. The facility will house customer care operations and provide 24-hour support.
        "This is an excellent example of how state government, local authorities and private industry can come together in a project that benefits all involved," says Tony Tan, Chairman and CEO of ZCorum. Company officials cited several key factors in bringing the firm to rural Emmanuel County, including workforce training through the state's QuickStart program at Swainsboro Technical College.