ADRIAN — A $10 million state investment will fund the creation of a workforce development center on Adrian’s east side that aims to give both businesses and individuals more tools to succeed.

The Align Center for Workforce Development announced this month that it is purchasing the building at 430 E. Church St. from Restore World Church and will renovate it into a space with resources for employers, entrepreneurs, job seekers, and people looking to enhance their skills.

The project has been incubated by Lenawee Now, the county’s nonprofit economic development agency, since 2015, but the Align Center is now spinning off into its own organization that will maintain close ties with Lenawee Now.

Sheila Blair is the director of the Align Center. She said the new building will bring all kinds of economic services together under one roof.

Employers will be able to purchase training services or consulting, Blair said, and the center has an extensive catalog of training programs that they can offer.

Entrepreneurs will be able to access small business consultants through Align Lenawee, and the center also plans to build a “maker space” with equipment like 3D printers and etching machines where startup businesses can do things like building prototypes.

Job seekers and people looking to gain new skills will be able to take advantage of training programs, such as Commercial Driver’s License certification, and also access services through Michigan Works, which provides a variety of programs to help people get jobs.

“Think of it as a one-stop for anybody who’s having any kind of employment issue,” Blair said.

Align Lenawee will also continue working with local school districts on programs like career fairs.

“You don’t build a talent pipeline by addressing today’s needs, you build a talent pipeline by thinking also about tomorrow,” Blair said.

Pat Farver, executive director of Lenawee Now, described the Align Center as taking a “campus approach” to employment services. 

“We’re not trying to replicate or replace anything that exists right now,” he said. Instead, the goal is to bring both Align Lenawee’s services and programs offered by other entities together in one place.

Organizations that have already committed to having office space in the new center are Michigan Works, ProMedica’s Adrian Ebeid Neighborhood Promise, and Hispanics of Lenawee Alliance, whose founder, Ben Negron, worked closely with State Sen. Joe Bellino (R-Monroe) on securing the state earmark that is helping to fund the center.

The Community Action Agency also plans to offer services at the site.

Blair said that “everybody who’s in there has committed to doing a friendly handoff,” meaning that people seeking services won’t feel like they’re just being sent from one office to another.

“There’s a sense of frustration when people feel like they have been dismissed,” she said. This is going to be a different feeling, a different kind of interaction with the public.”

The center will also include a large community hall that will be named for Paul “Chico” Martinez, a longtime community activist who died in 2022.

Blair said the renovation will cost about $2.5 million. Though the state’s $10 million budget earmark is helping with startup costs, the plan is for the center’s long-term funding to come from a mixture of grants and fees for services.

More information is available at alignlenawee.org.