Brooklyn Center to Become Home to New Workforce Development Center
Brooklyn Center will soon be home to a new workforce development center thanks in part to federal funding.
“We chose the workforce development center that they are co-creating as one of the 10 projects that we funded in Minnesota’s 5th Congressional District and it is our honor to present this $1 million check to them today,” said U.S. Rep. Ilhan Omar, D-Minnesota.
Omar presented a $1 million check to officials from Brooklyn Park nonprofit African Career Education and Resources, Inc. (ACER), along with its project partner, Comunidades Organizando el Poder y la Acción Latina (COPAL). ACER will run the workforce center in Brooklyn Center.
The money will be used to develop two workforce centers aimed at helping local African and Latino communities.
COPAL and ACER received this ceremonial, $1 million check from Rep. Ilhan Omar on Wednesday at the Brooklyn Center Library.
ACER’s “Innovation and Catalyst Center” will focus on job placement, training, advocacy, education of workers’ rights and wealth creation.
“In terms of what the black workforce looks like, there’s still a lot of work to be done in Minnesota,” said Nelima Sitati Munene, executive director of ACER. “And we’re so thankful to the 5th Congressional District for being a part of that investment.”
ACER hopes to acquire the space for the Innovation and Catalyst Center in Brooklyn Center later this year and have it up and running by February.
Related: New MN Office of Public Engagement Aims to Reduce Racial Job Disparities
