East St. Louis nonprofit starts construction on $2 million workforce training center

This article was first published by St. Louis Public Radio, a BND news partner.

A religious nonprofit in East St. Louis expects to complete a new $2 million workforce construction training center in about 18 months.

R3 Development , started in 2015, has employed about 150 young adults through its program, which aims to connect underserved students of the area to good-paying jobs and build up the local economy.

“For us, it’s about addressing generational poverty with generational solutions,” said Dave Kuntz, R3’s executive director. “It affects the entire family unit, family line. And this really bolsters the region, the city through jobs and economic development.”

On Friday, U.S. Rep. Nikki Budzinski, D-Springfield, delivered $1 million in federal government funding to the organization’s headquarters for the project. The cash comes from congressional earmarks for Illinois’ 13th District , an annual process that directs funds to specific projects.

With the new roughly 10,000-square-foot building, nonprofit leaders said they’ll be able to broaden their impact. Right now, Kuntz estimates they can run about 20 people ages 16-24 through the program in their current space. In the new building next door, they could expand to 60 to 75.

“The potential, that’s just sitting here kind of latent, could be a remarkable outcome for the community,” said Sergio Muñoz, a job developer and instructor at the nonprofit.

As of now, R3 leadership has secured about $1.5 million for the new facility. They have a strong donor base and some leads for additional funding, Kuntz said.

While the nonprofit largely focuses on building residential homes, those in the program will also be able to use this expansion project as another venue to learn, Kuntz said.

In the program, the students can obtain a high school diploma and relevant construction credentials through a certified apprenticeship. It’s a self-paced program. Most complete it in about two years.

he students’ work can also help address ongoing workforce and housing shortages felt across the country and in the region. As R3 expands, education and training in the medical and computing fields will be added, because not everyone is cut out for a career in construction, Muñoz said.

About half the young adults who come through the program aren’t actually interested in residential construction, Muñoz said. Some also want to gain the skills to fix up their own home or flip a house.

The program can help young adults of the area get better prepared for the workplace, and that can help employers too.

“The goal is to give them an introduction and to give them a vision of what the employer needs — so that it’s going to be a win-win proposition,” Muñoz said.

The youth also learn leadership and life skills. The nonprofit has also started to offer more wraparound services, like counseling and transportation, to support those in the program.

In turn, Kuntz sees what R3 provides as a piece to the puzzle to address some of the long-standing issues facing East St. Louis.

“It’s a matter of providing access and opportunities to the community that doesn’t have it,” he said.

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