The New Orleans Career Center is racing to keep up as employers around the city clamor for skilled workers. CEO Claire Jecklin says the nonprofit has rapidly expanded its slate of classes in both the building trades and health care, adding plumbing and ramping up clinical training at its Tremé campus.
Enrollment Is Surging
What started as a small pilot has ballooned. Enrollment has climbed from roughly 100 trainees in the center’s early days to about 800, and the site now serves just over 200 people on a typical weekday. The program blends half-day technical classes for Orleans Parish high school students with a bridge year and accelerated adult reskilling cohorts that include SNAP recipients and employer-paid trainees, according to New Orleans Career Center.
Trades, Plumbing and Culinary Capacity
Building trades remain the biggest draw, with electrical as the single largest enrollment area. Courses already cover carpentry, HVAC and welding, and the school plans to add plumbing. On the health care side, pathways include certified nursing assistant, patient-care technician, medical assistant and a Licensed Practical Nursing track developed with local partners. The center’s culinary labs are built for small cohorts of roughly 20 students at a time as it scales apprenticeships with hotels and health systems, as reported by NOLA.com.
Space and Funding Behind the Push
The program has moved into a renovated 143,000-square-foot former McDonogh 35 school that reopened in 2023 after a roughly $27 million overhaul, giving the center room for more shops, labs and simulated clinical space. Funding for the buildout included FEMA recovery dollars, community development block grants and state capital outlay, and the City of New Orleans and several foundations are listed among ongoing funders. The renovation costs and building details were reported by New Orleans CityBusiness, and the list of public and private funders appears on the partners page of New Orleans Career Center.
Training That Turns Into Work
Health care pathways are designed to feed directly into local employers. NOCC helped develop a pilot LPN apprenticeship with Delgado Community College’s Charity School of Nursing and Ochsner that stacks classroom instruction, clinical rotations and on-the-job learning. Employers also run hiring days and internships that have translated into permanent offers for trainees, including multiple recent hires in local health systems. The LPN apprenticeship structure is detailed by Delgado Community College, while the hiring outcomes were covered by Biz New Orleans.
Challenges Remain
Jecklin cautions that a shrinking student population across the district, combined with complicated education funding streams, will make long-term growth a careful balancing act for the center. Even so, staff and partners say the mix of modern facilities, close employer relationships and targeted public support leaves NOCC well positioned to keep filling New Orleans’ construction and health care pipelines. Those pressures and plans were outlined in recent coverage from NOLA.com.
