UC Will Create Job Training Facility As Part Of $25M Grant

The Upper Cumberland will get a new job training facility as part of the $25 million grant announced last week to help pull people out of poverty.

The Highland Economic Partnership will assist with the effort.

President and CEO Amy New said that the facility will do things like technical training, soft skill training, and resume-building. She said that they will partner with local industries to pair with recipients.

“We have more jobs than we have people,” New said. “So building people up, bringing them out of that benefit area, that TANF area, and bringing them into the workforce is tremendous both for our workforce and for those families. So that they can afford to do things and take care of their families.”

New said that the next steps will be to find a location for the facility. She said that they hope to find a building to lease instead of constructing a new building.

New said that this facility is a huge opportunity to bolster the workforce in the Upper Cumberland.

“We’ll be figuring out where those big gaps are and start pulling those programming and training programs over to start kind of coming up with the curriculum on how we will train these people,” New said. “And how quickly we can pair people with these industries.”