Dallas College Celebrates Launch Of New Innovation Center For Workforce Training

Press release from Dallas College:

Oct. 26, 2021

(DALLAS) — Highlighting the initiative to bring learning tools directly into the neighborhoods that need them most, Dallas College proudly celebrated the launch of the Lancaster Innovation Center last week together with E Smith Communities, the social infrastructure development company run by former Dallas Cowboys running back Emmitt Smith.

With some 7,000 square feet dedicated to hands-on training programs in construction and robotics, combined with a mobile training lab to provide high school equivalency education and job training, the center is providing soft skills training, job readiness and financial literacy in an effort to bring long-term economic viability to this often-neglected part of southern Dallas County.

The opening celebration was attended by local business leaders, elected officials and the former Hall of Fame running back himself, as well as administrators and presidents from the Dallas College campuses, including Cedar Valley, whose campus is just five miles south of the center’s location at 4315 S. Lancaster Road.

Dallas College Cedar Valley Campus President Joe Seabrooks was among the speakers at the opening who stressed the importance of getting students in the southern part of Dallas County into promising careers. Bringing classrooms to this often-neglected neighborhood, he said, is an opportunity to help build sustainable communities while eliminating barriers to success.

“For this entire community, what this space represents is that people can transform their lives without leaving their neighborhoods,” Seabrooks told 100-plus attendees, partners and city leaders who were present for the grand opening. “We have to put people on career journeys. We have to help people find their way.”

This press release was produced by Dallas College. The views expressed here are the author’s own.