Hi! I'm Bella Popadiuk, your Neighborhood Reporter for Waco, Bellmead, and Lacy Lakeview.
WACO, Texas (KXXV — Texas State Technical College (TSTC), the City of Waco, and McLennan County, are partnering for workforce training initiative. The WorkSITE facility will provide the community with training options.
BROADCAST TRANSCRIPT:
Jessica Attas is the CEO of Prosper Waco.
She says she has a goal of seeing the people in her hometown of Waco succeed.
"I want to see people and businesses prosper and thrive and I think projects like this are really the pathway to doing that," she said.
"Think workforce and education are two of the best strategies we know for helping people build pathways to prosperity."
Prosper Waco is teaming up with Texas State Technical College, or TSTC, the City of Waco and McLennan County to recruit unemployed and underemployed neighbors in need of more training through a new facility called workSITE.
WorkSITE, which stands for skills, innovation, training and education.
Once open, it will offer short-term customized training options for our community.
"Learning a trade is good for someone who may not be interested in pursuing that traditional path because the companies that hire are great, solid companies and the pay is very strong," TSTC VP of Student Learning Kacey Darnell said.
TSTC Vice President of Student Learning Kacey Darnell tells me, the training facility will be customized to the specific needs of our community.
"This is a facility that is for the Waco community. Our main campus on I-35 serves students from all over Texas to go to TSTC in Waco — this is for the citizens and industry of McLennan County," Darnell said.
Kacey says in McLennan County, there's a demand for people working in the manufacturing industry, especially as things become automated.
"The hope and the shared vision is that we're going to have the workforce pipeline and the talent that businesses need to come to Waco," said CEO of Prosper Waco, Jessica Attas.
"The Greater Waco Chamber serves as one of the key leaders in recruiting businesses and so they need to be able to say when they're talking to potential businesses that we have the workforce here."
