Sometimes, I’m very up to date on what’s happening in our city.  But on occasion, I miss something big.  I recently stumbled across this new Pinellas County Job Corps complex in St. Petersburg, at the corner of 5th Avenue South and 22nd Street.  The 166,000 square foot Center fills an entire block across the street from the St. Petersburg Clay Company.  Construction on the center is complete, and the process to procure an Operator for the Center is currently underway. 

The Job Corps is, in their own words, ”the nation’s largest and most comprehensive residential education and job training program for at-risk youth, ages 16 through 24.  Job Corps combines classroom, practical, and work-based learning experiences to prepare youth for stable, long-term, high-paying jobs.”

Job Corps programs have had huge economic impacts in communities where they’ve been established, and when this Center opens, there will be new jobs created at the facility, as well as new skilled workers graduating from the facility, likely for many years to come.  For more details, as well as a number of photographs of the Center’s buildings, check out this document.