A new workforce training center cut the ribbon in Cabot this week, giving adults with disabilities a hands-on space to learn job skills, build confidence, and get support for everyday life. The facility, built along Highway 367 south, is run by Arkansas Enterprises for the Developmentally Disabled and is expected to serve up to 60 adults each year while creating 38 new jobs.
Arkansas Enterprises for the Developmentally Disabled, known as AEDD, held a ribbon-cutting ceremony for the center on Tuesday, November 10, 2026, according to KATV. The station reports the facility will provide hands-on job training, employment support, and everyday life skills for adults with disabilities, with organizers saying the goal is to help participants build confidence and prepare for employment.
A Focus on Life Skills, Not Just Job Training
AEDD Chief Operating Officer Lexie McPherson framed the center's mission around more than just workplace readiness. “We are trying to help them develop their life skills as much as possible,” McPherson said, per the station's report. The approach reflects AEDD's broader model, which includes mental health services such as individual and group therapy intended to help participants manage everyday challenges.
That combination of vocational training and therapeutic support traces back to plans AEDD first laid out for the Cabot site. An earlier announcement from the organization described the facility as intended to provide a continuum of education, supported employment opportunities, and daily life-skills training, according to AEDD. The same announcement outlined plans for a public park on the campus featuring a half-mile, lighted pedestrian and biking trail and a pavilion.
Project Figures Have Varied Across Announcements
Exactly how much the Cabot project cost has been described differently depending on the source. AEDD's January 2025 announcement described a $9.4 million investment in Cabot, in Lonoke County, while a separate announcement from Jobs 4 You described a $4.2 million center with $9.4 million in total investments across Lonoke County. The discrepancy between the two figures has not been resolved publicly. Jobs 4 You had previously listed the Cabot Workforce Training Center, at 3544 AR Highway 367 S., as set to open in the summer.
The Cabot center fits into a larger expansion AEDD has pursued across central Arkansas. The organization's plans have included three new non-congregate homes in Argenta and Cabot, two properties in Maumelle, and the workforce training center in Lonoke County, according to KARK. AEDD has said it offers services and programs in seventeen counties across Arkansas.
Employment Gap Remains Wide Statewide
The new center arrives against a backdrop of persistent employment disparities for Arkansans with disabilities. A 2023 report put the state's employment rate for people with disabilities at 32.0%, according to data compiled by the Institute on Disability, though the precise scope of that figure has not been independently verified beyond the published snippet. Whatever the exact number, it underscores the gap that programs like AEDD's Cabot center are designed to help close, one participant at a time, through job coaching, therapy, and everyday life-skills training on Highway 367 south.
