If a couple of words can sum up the past year at the Skills Centre, they would be change and growth. Big changes for the organization and big changes for the community of Trail—and the Skills Centre has highlighted their work in their 2023 Community Impact Report.
“We set some ambitious goals for our work over the next five years, and we’re fully committed to achieving them. We’ve grown as an organization this past year, and we’re increasing our impact in certain areas,” says Morag Carter, Skills Centre executive director.
- In the past year, the Skills Centre has purchased the buildings at the corner of Eldorado and Esplanade and begun an extensive renovation that will be a community asset unlike any in downtown Trail.
- In response to community needs, the Skills Centre has increased its focus on poverty reduction work with several initiatives.
- After four years, some of the Skills Centre’s training programs have come to an end, and with a focus on employees’ and employers’ future needs, they have launched new programs.
“The core business of the Skills Centre—to deliver skills building programs to targeted members of the community—has once again been hugely successful. The programs team delivered nine provincial programs to youth, older workers and survivors of trauma and violence. We were also approved for a new federal program, which we are delivering in partnership with the Columbia Basin Alliance for Literacy (CBAL),” Carter explains.
Much of the Skills Centre’s work provides essential stability to a changing workforce, and that’s their theme looking ahead. New programs focus on emerging technology, remote work, reducing working poverty, supporting mental health, and future-proofing the workforce.
