BOWLING GREEN, Ky. (WBKO) – With the help of a $2.8 million grant from the U.S. Economic Development Administration, the Goodwill Industrial Opportunity Center will soon expand its services to those seeking assistance in starting a career path. I will.
The grant will support $3.515 million in project costs, with an additional $757,000 in local funding and $475,000 from the Kentucky Economic Development Cabinet, according to Goodwill Industries of Kentucky.
This expansion is being done with the approval and support of local stakeholders including the City of Bowling Green, Bowling Green Area Chamber of Commerce, Warren County and BRADD.
Chad Spencer, director of career services for Goodwill Industries, said the funding will facilitate the expansion of both the building and the services offered within it. The space expansion will allow the Opportunity Center’s community partners to have their own office space in the building and move to a one-stop-shop model for people seeking incarceration-to-permanent employment transition programs.
“So instead of me signing someone up for our service and asking them to go to the Kentucky Career Center and sign up for my service as well, I have a representative from the Kentucky Career Center here in the building. “So instead of asking someone to go downtown, I walk them across the hall,” Spencer said.
As it stands, Spencer says the building’s space is underutilized, with extensive storage space and unused outdoor space in the back of the building.
“Let’s take a look at what the building is now and then as construction begins and expansion continues, how this place has gone from a small space helping people to a really large multi-faceted community help center. You’ll see how things change.”At the Goodwill Opportunity Center, all of our employers and community partners live together,” Spencer said.
The renovated building will house resources such as the Kentucky Career Center, the Workforce Innovation and Opportunity Act, and mental health crisis intervention specialists.
The design phase of the project is expected to begin in early November, but a construction schedule has not yet been set.
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