NEW ORLEANS – On June 17, the New Orleans Career Center hosted a groundbreaking ceremony for a career and technical education campus to be located at 1331 Kerlerec Street.
Scheduled to be complete in the fall of 2022, the new NOCC campus will have capacity to train approximately 1,000 New Orleans public high school students and adults each year across six high-demand, high-wage career pathways. The building, which originally housed McDonogh 35 High School, is being revamped to comprise more than 143,000 square feet of purpose-built space. The $26.9 million LEED-certified facility is among the last to be completed under the Louisiana Department of Education Recovery School District and Orleans Parish School Board School Facilities Master Plan funded by FEMA and Community Development Block Grants after Hurricane Katrina.
“Since NOCC opened the doors in fall of 2018, our growth has been constrained by space. This year, our partner high schools are asking to place more students with us than ever before, because they know the quality and effectiveness of our programs,” said NOCC Founding Executive Director Claire Jecklin. “In the new building, we’ll be able to offer our rigorous, real-world career prep to even more high school students. We’ll be able to work with more employers to design rapid adult training programs and apprenticeships to meet workforce needs. More New Orleanians will have the knowledge, the networks, and the necessary certifications or college credits to secure good jobs that contribute to a thriving and inclusive local economy.”
With the new building, NOCC will expand to offer professional-level certifications and dual enrollment in college courses in six career pathways: blue/green infrastructure, culinary arts and hospitality management, engineering/advanced manufacturing, healthcare, skilled crafts/trades, and technology and digital media.
The construction project is being managed by Jacobs Engineering/CSRS Consortium and built by Broadmoor Construction. It was designed by SCNZ Architects.
