From welding to 3-D printing, Perris residents can look forward to learning new skills at a training and job center set to open next year.
The Skills Training and Job Placement Center that broke ground last month will feature meeting spaces, job resources and classrooms for veterans, minorities and women. The center is expected to begin its services by spring 2024, a news release states.
“This is something that’s been on my bucket list and it’s going to provide doors to our community members and our neighboring city to enhance their skill set,” Perris Mayor Michael Vargas said. “This is another door that can provide high-paying jobs.”
The skills center will offer programs aimed at creating opportunities for a community where warehouses keep rising and impacting the area, Vargas said.
“This is a unique situation that’s much needed in the Inland Empire,” Vargas said.
The center will offer various certifications and programs, including those in:
- Cybersecurity
- Homeland security
- CPR
- Robotics
- Coding
- Laser technologies
- Construction
- Woodshop
- Arts and crafts
Perris has a population of 79,831. About 33% are foreign-born and 4% are veterans. About 10% have a bachelor’s degree or higher, according to updated Census data released in 2021.
Latinos make up the majority of the foreign-born population in Perris, with 89%.
It’s not yet known how many students the center will serve, city spokesperson Stephen Hale said.
According to the floor plans, the center will be a two-story building with classrooms, offices, a computer lab, a job placement and resource center and a machine, construction and welding training area.
To be located near Perris City Hall at 1st and D streets, the project will cost nearly $10 million. The city has $6.6 million in federal dollars and allocated the rest from its general fund.
It’s not clear if the center will offer free classes, but financial assistance will be available, Hale said.
“Growing up in Perris, I would have loved to have had a facility like this one,” Mayor Pro Tem Marisela Nava said in the release. “Four-year institutions are not for everyone, but to have this skills center in the heart of our city can make training and job placement a reality for all our residents.”
Vargas echoed that sentiment, saying, “sometimes college is not meant for everybody.”
“This opens the doors and gives opportunities for our youth … that provides an alternative education for them, and might be the tool or pathway they need to be successful,” he said.
