The College of Eastern Idaho celebrated the completion of the Eastern Idaho Workforce Training center on Wednesday afternoon. During a ribbon-cutting at 101 Technology Drive in Idaho Falls, together with county and city officials and business owners, CEI President Rick Aman told those in attendance the goal of the building is to provide professional development and enhance career opportunities for the community and CEI students, as well as “improve the pipeline of industry-ready students.”

Recent increases in business development projects and construction has created a huge demand for skilled trade workers in eastern Idaho. Although many high school students pursue college degrees after graduation, learning a trade allows you to enter the workforce with a high-paying job much sooner and may be the smarter route for some.

Speaking to EastIdahoNew.com, Aman says, “These are blue-collar, trade-related jobs. Everything from HVAC, electrical work, plumbing, heavy equipment operation, welding and advanced manufacturing. You can always work on a degree while you’re out on the construction site. A lot of what we try to do is convince anyone who’s interested in these kinds of jobs.”

This initiative will also have many benefits when it comes to job training for inmates or ex-convicts transitioning back into society. “Depending on how long a person has been incarcerated, things have changed a lot (with technology). Quite often, they haven’t had an opportunity to develop a skill. With a criminal record and no marketable skills it can be pretty difficult to find a job.” In conjunction with that, the sheriff’s office wants to help inmates who are serious about making better lifestyle choices to receive job training while they’re still in jail. The idea is to jumpstart the transition process for certain inmates. They’d go to class during the day and come back to the jail at night. The program is in the initial planning stages and will involve the court system. Hulse is hoping it can start next spring.

The center is a project that started coming together about six months ago, but the concept was first suggested in the 1990s. Bonneville County Commissioner Byron Reed told the crowd that former Commissioner Cliff Long first proposed the idea. “At that time, several people were being laid off from the Idaho National Laboratory, the economy was in a slump and he was concerned about what would happen with the displaced workers.” Reed said.