Historic Westside's new job training center wants to 'get people working'

Las Vegas Review-Journal
by Taylor R. Avery

A new job training center in the Historic Westside is set to be completed in August 2025, a Las Vegas city official said Wednesday.

Construction on the Westside Workforce Education and Training Center, which is backed by a partnership between the city and the College of Southern Nevada, will start in August and should be complete in a year, Youth Development &Social Innovation Director Tammy Malich told City Council members.

The Las Vegas City Council unanimously approved three agreements with CSN for the facility, including an agreement by the city to not sell or lease the land where the facility will be located for 20 years and a lease agreement for the land.

Councilman Cedric Crear, who represents the ward where the center will be located, applauded the center’s progress.

“This is going to transform our community and get people working,” Crear said. “When you give a person a good job, it changes their life, it changes their family’s life and it changes the community’s life. We’re on the road to doing just that.”

The city will be responsible for construction at the center. CSN will be responsible for providing furniture and equipment and will provide the training programs.

The planned 15,000-square-foot facility at 1099 C St. will provide credentialed programs in several areas, including advanced manufacturing, construction and health care.

The center will bring needed education and training opportunities to a neighborhood where many residents are unemployed, CSN President Federico Zaragoza said in a statement.

“This partnership will allow us to build bridges from community to college and to the workplace for structurally under-employed and unemployed populations,” he said.

Zaragoza said the program will provide English as a Second Language, High School Equivalency, job readiness and other training with help from community partners.

The project is backed by a nearly $7 million federal COVID relief grant, which was awarded to CSN by the U.S. Department of Commerce’s Economic Development Administration in 2021.

Officials have previously said that the facility will serve 450 students annually.

A spokesperson for CSN did not respond to a request for comment.

Contact Taylor R. Avery at TAvery@reviewjournal.com. Follow @travery98 on X.