Northwest, state representatives to celebrate McKemy Center renovation June 20

State representatives will join Northwest Missouri State University this month for a celebration of their partnership, which fostered a remodel of the University’s McKemy Center for Lifelong Learning to enhance workforce and economic development.

As part of the Missouri Department of Economic Development’s “Helping Missourians Prosper” ARPA tour, the Northwest community is invited to join the celebration at 3 p.m. Tuesday, June 20, at the McKemy Center, which is located on the Northwest campus at North College Drive and Centennial Drive.

The renderings above and below show how spaces in the McKemy Center may appear after renovations are complete. The above image depicts a metal shop.

McKemy Center lobby

McKemy Center classroom

McKemy Center wood shop

Now nearing completion, the remodeled McKemy Center will become home to revised and expanded programming with welding booths, laboratory space, and safety and infrastructure upgrades. The University is developing coursework in the areas of welding, precision measuring, electronics and electricity, mechatronics, personal protective equipment and safety, robotics and other industry-standard certifications.

In support of the project, the Missouri Department of Economic Development awarded Northwest $988,211 through the American Rescue Plan Act (ARPA) Workforce Training Grant Program. The grant program is focused on helping companies address workforce shortages by recruiting and training thousands of Missourians.

Additionally, Northwest is purchasing classroom equipment and plans to implement a Systems Management Academy for high school students and teachers. The reimagined McKemy Center will feature Power Wave C300 portable multi-process wire feeder welders with high-end functionality capable of Stick, DC TIG, MIG, Pulsed MIG and Flux-Cored welding and a VRTEX virtual reality welding training simulator that promotes the transfer of welding skills and body positioning while reducing waste associated with traditional welding training.

Core agricultural mechanics competencies have been taught at Northwest for decades, but renovations at the McKemy Center will help the University focus on systems management and better address today’s labor needs in the agriculture and manufacturing industries.

By offering comprehensive systems management training and skill development, as well as certifying those skills with industry-recognized stackable credentials, Northwest will help increase the labor force for manufacturing and agribusiness industry clusters.

The ARPA Workforce Training Grant Program was launched in August 2022. It has awarded competitive grants to a range of applicants to help train workers for a variety of industries, including child care, health care, broadband deployment and manufacturing. The grant program also assists recipients with training at-risk and low-income populations.

The state of Missouri received $2.7 billion in ARPA funds and prioritized approximately 20 percent of those funds for economic development programs. As a result, the Department of Economic Development created nine grant programs to support communities and businesses across the state that focused on broadband, community development, workforce, industrial sites, small businesses and nonprofits, among others. After receiving more than 2,000 grant applications, the Department of Economic Development has made more than 650 grant awards ranging from $5,000 to $5 million and has obligated 94 percent of all available grant funding.