A $5 million grant to the Missouri Division of Workforce Development by the U.S. Department of Labor has resulted in new neighborhood Workforce Centers in St. Louis city and county.
The new Neighborhood Workforce Centers in the city are Cherokee & Ohio, located at 2715 Cherokee St. and Prince Hall, located at 4411 N. Newstead Ave.
The Neighborhood Workforce Centers in the county are Paddock Forest, located at 6877 Parker Rd., and the MET Center, located at 6347 Plymouth Ave.
All four centers are open Monday through Friday, from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m., with the exception of Wednesdays, when they open at 9 a.m.
A fifth center is scheduled to open in Ferguson in March.
The centers were established by a coalition of the city’s St. Louis Agency on Training and Employment (SLATE), the St. Louis County Division of Workforce Development, and the Family and Workforce Centers of America, as part of the St. Louis Career Pathways Bridge initiative.
St. Louis Mayor Francis G. Slay said the workforce center’s align with the city’s PIER Plan to reduce crime. “Jobs and job training are a central crime prevention component,” Slay said.
The centers are located in communities marked by high poverty and unemployment. They will seek to find jobs for 3,000 people, ages 16-29, over the next two years.
“This is a comprehensive program that in addition to providing job training will also coach young people on writing resumes and preparing for interviews,” St. Louis County Executive Stenger said. “And once they find jobs, we will track their progress in order to gauge the program’s effectiveness.”
Participants will also have the chance to earn their High School Equivalency certification.