It’s taken seven years of advocating, planning and hard work, but finally The Aspire Center for Workforce Innovation expects to its doors to Austin residents in the second quarter of 2025.
Located at the now closed Robert Emmet Elementary School on 5500 W. Madison St., the center will be home to four tenants: Austin Coming Together, Westside Health Authority, Jane Addams Resource Corp. and BMO Harris Bank.
Aspire is a center focused on job training for West Side residents, part of Austin Coming Together’s efforts to revitalize the commercial section on the West Side and to build a stronger cradle-to-career pipeline in Austin.
The cost of the project is $40.8 million, according to Darnell Shields, executive director of Austin Coming Together. Of this, $22.25 million came from state and city funds, $10.43 million from New Markets Tax Credit and $8.12 million came from philanthropic support
Shields stressed the importance of the center being a space that benefits Austin residents. “As we were building this center, the whole focus and attention has been to serve our population, folks that live locally here,” he said. “This is for us, by us.”
That intention stayed true when hiring for the project and the building.
“We focused on local hiring. We were very intentional about community residents, minorities and women contractors being a part of this project,” said Shields.
He said the center’s programs will include advanced manufacturing training, workforce advancement, financial literacy counseling and small business development support.
Three of the four tenants are nonprofits, all working to provide support to Austin residents.
· Austin Coming Together is a nonprofit impacting education and economic development outcomes in Austin. At the center, ACT will be connecting residents with the resources they are seeking, including housing and legal assistance.
· Westside Health Authority will be providing reentry support, employment services, youth mentoring and a host of other services. According to its website, the nonprofit has placed and trained more than 10,000 residents in jobs since 2005.
· Jane Addams Resource Corporation offers numerous kinds of trade training to low-income adults and job seekers, including manufacturing, welding, CNC numerical control and mechanical assembly. Shields said that among the reasons for JARC moving to Aspire was the ability to train more would train more Westside residents than they could do elsewhere.
· BMO Harris Bank will ensure residents have access to income support and financial coaching.
The building uses adaptive reuse but will still have “remnants of the school,” said Shields. However there are some big changes as well, including making the back of the building now the front.
Shields also said that the center will be a space people can use whether working from home or in person with the need to use Wi-Fi or take a break from the cold.
“If you have a meeting with folks virtually or on site you can do that. You want a change in scenery from home, stretch your legs,” said Shields. “This is who we’re here to serve, and we’re accountable to the community.”