SCC Vice President Joel Michaelis explains why he thinks the York High School campus would be a useful place for the proposed Workforce Development Center – York News-Times photo
York News-Times Reprint
Written by Parker Garlough
Planning for a potential workforce development center in York has accelerated.
The project, if the community moves forward with it, would establish a training center for York adults seeking to learn new skills that are in high demand by York employers. It would be run by Southeast Community College and would be able to accommodate a wider range of programs than the Regional Learning Center does.
What those programs might be is still up for discussion, but the conversation on Tuesday between several York employers and community leaders demonstrated that many types of manufacturing skills are in high demand.
Examples include welding, computer-assisted drafting and design, construction management, and information technology skills.
Another possibility that SCC Vice President Dr. Joel Michaelis is excited about is a nursing program. The SCC Regional Learning Center already offers a certified nursing assistant program, but the Workforce Development Center would potentially be able to expand into more advanced forms of nursing education, such as licensed practical nursing or Associate’s Degree in Nursing pathways.
“There are all kinds of things that have to fall into place,” Michaelis said, including a feasibility study, approval by the SCC Board of Governors, and undergoing the accreditation process for nursing education. “But that is absolutely something that we would be excited to do. I think it’s something that this community has indicated that it needs.”
Presently, Michaelis says, his goal is to establish a 20,000-square-foot building — but if York is able to raise more funds, it could be larger and hold a greater variety of classes. York County Development Corporation Executive Director Lisa Hurley said she would prefer something larger — perhaps 40,000 square feet. As a point of comparison, the SCC Regional Learning Center has a 6,000-square-foot building.
One possibility is for the training center to be located on the York High School campus. York Public Schools would be willing to donate land, Superintendent Mitch Bartholomew said. This could be beneficial because high school students would be a major part of the target population, according to Michaelis. Furthermore, not having to purchase land would reduce costs.
Another possibility, Klute President Jordan Klute suggested, is that the facility could be placed closer to the interstate so that people from surrounding communities — including McCool and Heartland high school students — could attend more easily.
A 20,000-square-foot training center would be about a $10 million project, Michaelis said.
Though their financial contribution is subject to approval by the SCC Board of Governors, Michaelis said, SCC would potentially invest $6 million to $7 million for the training center.
That leaves $3 million to $4 million to be covered through a combination of grant funding and community donations.
“The federal grants and the state grants are kind of drying up, but there are some foundation grants that focus on education, and those are the ones that we’re hoping to tap into,” Hurley said.
However, funding from local organizations and businesses is also essential — both as an additional source of funding and as a tool to persuade foundations to donate.
“We have to have funding from York County businesses as well, because otherwise, foundations will say we have no local buy-in,” Hurley said.
