Southeast Community College is building a new Learning and Workforce Development Center right next to York High School, a 20,000-square-foot facility that will train high schoolers and adult learners alike in manufacturing, automation and healthcare. The project caps years of local fundraising and planning, and York Public Schools Superintendent Mitch Bartholomew says it represents something deeply personal for the community.
A Long-Awaited Partnership Takes Shape
The project is a partnership between SCC, York Public Schools, the York County Development Corporation and area employers, according to KLKN-TV. Bartholomew described the project as a dream nearly 15 years in the making, as reported by Nebraska Public Media. The new building will sit adjacent to the high school, and the existing SCC Learning Center in York will relocate into the new space once it is built, per the same outlet.
The station reports the center will serve high school students by letting them earn dual credit and industry certifications, while also supporting adult learners seeking career changes or improved job skills. SCC enrolled 794 students in York last school year between the Learning Center and dual-enrollment courses, the outlet notes, and the new facility is expected to serve SCC's broader 15-county region. Construction will likely start in 2027, according to the same report.
What the Center Will Teach
The project's dedicated website describes a facility focused on advanced manufacturing, automation, healthcare and skilled trades, built to serve high school students, adult learners, incumbent workers and employers across the region, according to the York County Development Corporation. The York County Development Corporation has said workforce availability is the number one challenge facing local employers, and the group has pointed to a clear gap between the skills job seekers have and what employers actually need. Nebraska Public Media reports the center will also offer credit classes, continuing education, personal-interest classes, adult GED and ESL instruction, and testing services, alongside dual-credit opportunities for high schoolers.
SCC President Paul Illich said York has a history of people investing in the next generation, according to the outlet's report. Bartholomew echoed that sentiment, saying local industry contributions were vital to making the project happen, and noting that smaller schools often lack the people or capital to offer certain programs on their own.
Money Raised, and a Gap in the Numbers
Bartholomew reported that $3.975 million has been raised from industries through the school, the York County Development Corporation and the SCC Foundation, with SCC expected to pay the remaining $6 million, per Nebraska Public Media's account. The York County Development Corporation's own project page describes the effort as a $10-plus million investment overall and states that the minimum funding needed to proceed has already been raised, even as additional donations continue to be accepted. That figure differs from earlier planning documents reported by justmelaniew.com, which said SCC was financially modeling $6 million to $7 million for the project and needed a $3 million local match before it could go to the SCC board for final approval. The site also reported that the City of York has officially committed $500,000 in LB 357 funds toward the center.
Logistics Still Being Worked Out
Bartholomew is assessing how students from other regional schools will be able to use the center once it's built, Nebraska Public Media reports, and regional superintendents are expected to address transportation and scheduling challenges that come with sharing the facility across districts. Students from McCool Junction will be able to remain enrolled at their home high school while attending the workforce development center, according to the outlet. Bartholomew cautioned that the center's full impact may not be clear for a few years after it opens.
How It Compares to Other SCC Projects
The York project follows a pattern SCC has used elsewhere in the state. Last year, the college opened a $33 million, 100,000-square-foot Welding Technology Center on its Lincoln campus, featuring 196 individual welding booths and an 11,000-square-foot fabrication lab, according to 1011now.com. In Fremont, Metropolitan Community College partnered with the local high school on a Career and Technical Education Center that launched in 2024 to provide industry-aligned training in high-demand fields, per the Platte Institute. That same research notes that at two-year colleges, 81 percent of dual-enrollment students return for a second year, compared with 67 percent of students without dual credit, underscoring why Nebraska community colleges have leaned into dual-enrollment programs at low or no cost over the past five years.
York's existing Learning Center, which the new facility will eventually replace, was dedicated in a ribbon-cutting ceremony on April 18 and currently has four classrooms plus a fifth used mainly for nursing classes, according to Southeast Community College. That center already offers credit and noncredit classes, GED and English Language Learner instruction, nursing-assistant courses and continuing education for registered and licensed practical nurses, per the college's own materials. The new building aims to expand on all of that under one larger roof, built specifically for the hands-on training employers in York County have said they need.
