Cumberland County, NJ Boosts Local Workforce

New high tech high school and workforce development center will provide businesses easier access to a well-trained and highly skilled workforce.

New Jersey’s Cumberland County Improvement Authority (CCIA) has invested $100 million to complete the construction of a technical education high school, as well as a multi-purpose workforce development center on the campus of Cumberland County College. The new facilities will work together to provide businesses easier access to a well-trained and highly skilled workforce, according to CCIA officials.

The new Cumberland County Technical Education Center (CCTEC) high school completes the CCIA’s “Economic Development Triangle,” the core of Cumberland County’s workforce training and advanced high school and higher education. It includes the new CCTEC, alongside Cumberland County College and the recently opened Center for Workforce Development on the college campus. (Source: CCIA)
The new Cumberland County Technical Education Center (CCTEC) high school completes the CCIA’s “Economic Development Triangle,” the core of Cumberland County’s workforce training and advanced high school and higher education. It includes the new CCTEC, Cumberland County College, and the recently opened Center for Workforce Development. (Source: CCIA)

The $70 million Cumberland County Technical Education Center (CCTEC), a state-of-the-art high school building, will enable the county’s career and technical education center to become a full-time high school. The new facility is expected to enroll more than 900 students when it opens next month — three times the enrollment at its former facility. The school offers technical and dual college credit programs to advance students, residents and businesses of Cumberland County. The facility brought an estimated 760 construction jobs and is projected to result in 100 new full-time education jobs. Its local economic impact is projected to bring more than $100 million in revenue to Cumberland County.

“The opening of the new CCTEC offers testimony as to why the county has charged the CCIA with economic development,,” said Gerard Velazquez, Executive Director of the CCIA. “Identifying and supporting projects to enhance the prosperity and welfare of Cumberland County is our main focus.”

Cumberland County
The CCTEC boasts a 12,200-foot gymnasium and auditorium space, a 7,500-foot cafeteria eating space, and a total of 78 instructional spaces. (Source: CCIA)

The $8 million Center for Workforce and Economic Development recently opened on the Cumberland County College campus. The 30,000-square-foot building was financed and developed by the CCIA, which continues to own the facility. The building streamlines the delivery of workforce and economic development services by bringing all of those services under one roof.

The facility houses the Department of Workforce Development, CCIA’s economic development services, the New Jersey Small Business Development Center, the New Jersey Department of Labor and Workforce Development, and the Cumberland County Office of Veterans Affairs. This new location has resulted in $200,000 saved in county leasing expenses that will be returned to the county and eventually to taxpayers.

“These CCIA undertakings impact the county on many levels,” said Velazquez. “CCTEC will change the lives of families with a never before high school option. Adults, who desire a better living, can also benefit from its programs. More importantly, this advanced training resource will better satisfy the needs of businesses who demand better and more abundant trained employees and it will offer an attractive incentive for more existing and new businesses who contemplate remaining and growing here in Cumberland County.”

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