This new education, job training hub aims to change lives in Las Vegas

This College of Southern Nevada satellite campus seeks to mold future professionals in the fields of advanced manufacturing, construction trades, technology and health care.

But first, dignitaries were on hand Wednesday morning for a ribbon cutting and sculpture unveiling to celebrate the completion of the “Historic Westside Education and Training Center,” a first of its kind in Las Vegas.

Instructors will officially begin offering credentialed job training for the inaugural class on Oct. 1.

“The training programs are focused on key high-demand, high-wage industries that will provide participants with pathways directly into career fields and align with college degree programs,” according to the city.

Councilwoman Shondra Summers-Armstrong, who represents the predominantly Black Historic Westside, said she was honored to usher in the project spearheaded by local lawmakers who preceded her, including former Las Vegas Councilman Cedric Crear and former Clark County Commissioner Lawrence Weekly.

“I stand before you today on their shoulders,” Summers-Armstrong said. “And the work that you see here is a culmination of the love, the commitment, the dedication that those who came before me had, to ensure that this campus would be transformed into a place that is going to offer hope for this community.”

The councilwoman added: “We are making a solemn promise to this community that we are going to provide educational opportunities that will help people lift themselves up.”

Federal-local partnership

The campus, a Las Vegas-CSN partnership, had a price tag of $16.4 million, partially funded by a U.S. Economic Development Administration grant through COVID-19 relief funds.

Carpenter Sellers Del Gatto Architects designed the facility that was constructed by Builders United. It’s located at 1099 C St., adjacent to the Historic Westside School campus.

Sen. Catherine Cortez Masto recalled planning meetings in the midst of the pandemic, which included a 2021 visit to the then-empty plot of land.

“Years later, we’re standing in front of the funding that is now going to make a difference right here in historic Las Vegas,” she said.

Cortez Masto said that the neighborhood has historically been underserved and underfunded.

“This is a hub for the Black community in Las Vegas,” she said. “It has always been and will continue to be, and it deserves the same investments and improvements that the rest of the city has access to.”

Other government investments for the Historic Westside include a modern West Las Vegas Library set to open early next year and the expansion of Mario’s Westside Market completed in 2023.

“For CSN, as an institution of higher education, serving this great area of southern (Nevada) and serving this Historic Westside means so much to me, but it means more to the people who have been so involved from the very, very beginning,” President Stacy Klippenstein said.

The newly minted president said he was hopeful the model could be replicated throughout the region.

A similar CSN campus is planned for a mixed-use housing development in the works at the site of the east Las Vegas Desert Pines Golf Course, according to the city.

Las Vegas, which owned the property, approved its sale to a developer last month.

“This project, this facility, is going to change lives and change the nature of the city of Las Vegas and all of Southern Nevada,” Las Vegas Mayor Shelley Berkley said Wednesday.

She said she was eager to see, years from now, hundreds and then thousands of locals graduate from the campus.

Contact Ricardo Torres-Cortez at rtorres@reviewjournal.com.