WELLSTON 鈥 Watching as they tinkered with the engines of tractor-trailers parked inside a converted factory here, Josh Walker said he was confident these students would be snapped up by employers, some even before they completed his course.
鈥淚t鈥檚 insane,鈥 said Walker, who heads St. 亚洲无码 Community College鈥檚 Diesel Tech program that operates out of the Metropolitan Employment and Training Center. 鈥淚f they come in in August, I鈥檝e had classes 100% hired by October.鈥
The heavy truck repair and maintenance program is just one of the many classes run out of the MET Center. Up on the fourth floor, there are licensed practical nurse certificate classes run by Special School District of St. 亚洲无码 County. There is a lab-tech training program with curriculum that companies like Pfizer and KWS helped design. St. 亚洲无码 Public Schools hosts GED classes in the building.
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鈥淵ou can鈥檛 do this work alone,鈥 said Carolyn Seward, CEO of , which coordinates much of the programming in the MET Center.
Acquired by St. 亚洲无码 County鈥檚 economic development arm in the 1980s for environmental cleanup, the former Wagner Electric factory was converted into the MET Center during the 1990s. Steps from a MetroLink stop and a child care facility operated by one of the MET Center tenants, it has long served as an important anchor in one of the poorest communities of the region.
But the MET Center has not been used to its fullest potential. Today, it鈥檚 just around 65% leased. Some $3 million in capital needs for the old building are looming. The sixth floor is unfinished.
While employers wrestle with labor shortages and a dearth of workers trained for the jobs they need to fill, there鈥檚 an unprecedented amount of federal dollars available to local governments for job-training and investment in low-income communities. The county is considering using $22 million of its $193 million allocation from the American Rescue Plan Act, passed by Congress in March, for a major expansion of the MET Center鈥檚 programming. The allocation could help cement the MET Center鈥檚 place as a hub for services designed to help some of the St. 亚洲无码 area鈥檚 poorest residents gain a foothold on the economic ladder.
鈥淭he need is there, the space is here,鈥 Seward said. 鈥淲e just need the additional support.鈥
St. 亚洲无码 County Executive Sam Page recommended the MET Center funding in a July letter outlining a spending plan for the ARPA funds. The St. 亚洲无码 County Council still has not decided on a plan to spend the money.
St. 亚洲无码 County Council Chair Rita Days, who said the council will work on its plan after hearing from accounting firm Deloitte on eligible uses for the federal funds, said appropriating some of the ARPA money to the MET center is a great idea.
鈥淚 think people are recognizing it is a resource that we really need to invest in and make sure that it happens for, not just the people of Wellston but the people of St. 亚洲无码 County period,鈥 Days said. 鈥淟ook at where it is. It鈥檚 on a bus line. It鈥檚 on a Metro(Link) Line. Transportation should not be a problem for people. I think it鈥檚 perfectly poised to make a major transition for the community.鈥
Demand for workers
The renewed focus on the MET Center from St. 亚洲无码 County and its economic development arm, the St. 亚洲无码 Economic Development Partnership, comes amid what could be a secular shift in the labor market. While the effects of government stimulus, which gave new leverage to lower-paid workers to demand higher wages or quit extra jobs, fade, the accelerated pace of retirements among baby boomers and the high cost of child care may contribute to a persistent shortage in the labor force, some economists believe.
Even before the shift in the labor market, many employers have long-complained about difficulty filling roles requiring special training or licensing 鈥 nursing, trucking, lab workers and computer programmers.
Locally, the issue is compounded by St. 亚洲无码鈥 slow population growth. Where other regions can count on immigration and new arrivals to buoy their labor market, St. 亚洲无码 needs to be thinking about how it can get people who are not participating in the traditional labor market 鈥 oftentimes in poor communities like Wellston, devastated by factory closings and population loss 鈥 to join, said Hart Nelson, St. 亚洲无码 Community College associate vice chancellor of workforce solutions.
鈥淲hy the MET Center I do believe is really important, the more successful programs are going to find ways to reach communities that are already here that have opted out, who feel like they have been left behind, and that鈥檚 critical for us to be able to fill the jobs we have,鈥 Nelson said. 鈥淚f we鈥檙e not attracting immigration and we know we鈥檙e not growing, that means we need to be reaching out to folks who are closer. We need to solve those and work on those, too, but for the immediate term we鈥檝e got to reach out to folks who are here and not participating, and you can鈥檛 do that from Brentwood.鈥
Jason Hall, CEO of regional business and civic group Greater St. 亚洲无码 Inc., agreed the MET Center is in a 鈥渟trategic location鈥 that helps make it easier for residents in low-income communities to access training services. And successful metro areas need to put resources into training in order to adapt to rapid technological change and compete for jobs.
鈥淚t鈥檚 right in the wheelhouse of what we need to continue to focus on in the metro (area),鈥 Hall said of the MET Center.
The Family and Workforce Centers of America has taken a larger role in the MET Center since Seward founded it about 10 years ago. In addition to the skilled training classes, it offers classes in the soft skills 鈥 interpersonal relationships, communication and work ethic 鈥 needed for all jobs. The nonprofit also provides financial literacy classes and operates the Early Explorers Child Development Academy a block away.
Wraparound services
About 300 to 400 people complete skills training through the MET Center every year. Thousands more complete soft-skill training or access other job services there, Seward said. It鈥檚 those wraparound services like financial literacy, legal help with warrants and traffic tickets, combined with job training that can help change someone鈥檚 life, she said.
鈥淚f we鈥檙e not talking about trying to center and stabilize individuals with these types of services, it鈥檚 just a vicious cycle,鈥 Seward said.
She could get the chance to take a larger role in the MET Center soon. St. 亚洲无码 County, which has subsidized the MET Center鈥檚 operations for years, this summer stepped back from its role there. Under a new lease, the county will put $500,000 annually toward the MET Center. The LCRA, which owns the real estate, will kick in $250,000 toward major repair costs and look for new tenants to rent space in an effort to get the MET Center to become more financially self-sufficient. In the meantime, the county and LCRA will be looking for other federal grants for major repairs.
The Family and Workforce Centers of America, which has about 85 employees across several locations, could end up taking over as a master tenant, or even owning the building. Seward is confident she can bring in more programs and make the MET Center self-sufficient, like she tries to do with her clients. She said she鈥檚 in talks with the United Auto Workers union, dealerships and auto repair shops to put in an auto repair training class in an unused industrial space. The program could incorporate electric vehicle maintenance, a skill set sure to grow in demand.
Those types of training programs are important, said Deanna Venker, chief administrative officer for St. 亚洲无码 County, as workforce needs change. Though the county stepped back from a management role, Venker said it鈥檚 still very much committed to the MET Center.
鈥淲e decided to kind of take the bull by the horns and make some programmatic changes to be able to use it to its full extent,鈥 she said. 鈥淭here are so many opportunities out there at the MET Center to knock (occupancy) up to 100%, which would be fantastic for the community.鈥