Over the years, Southeast Community College has made it its mission to serve the 15-county service area in southeast Nebraska by having campuses in Lincoln, Milford and Beatrice, but this still required many residents to travel a considerable distance and left most of these areas in need of skilled workers.
In 2014, SCC conducted a series of discussions with communities in the 15-county service area to assess what their needs were and came up with a plan to expand educational services across southeast Nebraska by developing learning centers in York, Nebraska City, Plattsmouth, Falls City, Hebron and Wahoo as a part of the 2015-19 Strategic Plan.
The learning centers developed out of Objective 4.4 of the Strategic Plan: “Expand accessibility of programs and services for all 15 counties of the college’s service area based on student, employer and community demands.”
In order to start meeting these demands, SCC’s Board of Governors approved $11.4 million from the 2015-16 budget to start leasing space to operate the six new learning centers and to hire staff to run them, said the Dean of Higher Education, Amy Chesley.
Other projects outlined in the Strategic Plan include expanding the Lincoln, Milford and Beatrice campuses to better serve the communities, which is reliant on the 2016 Bond passing in November.
“If the bond passes, we will have the funds to have a more permanent presence,” Chesley said about the learning centers.
Each of the six location will ensure that residents in the surrounding areas will be within 35 miles of a learning center.
On May 17, Southeast Community College celebrated the dedication of the first learning centers with a ribbon cutting ceremony in York.
The York Learning Center, located inside the Holthus Convention Center at 3130 Holen Ave., offers credit and noncredit classes.  Kym Wallingford is the coordinator for the center.
“We started meeting with leaders in that region (York) in December 2015 to initially identify their greatest needs,” Chesley said.  The areas identified for initial focus are Workplace Skills, Trades and Industry and Healthcare.
Leisure Learning classes will also continue to be offered at the York Middle School, which are continuing education classes that focus on specific interests, such as basic auto repair, cooking or yoga.
The Nebraska City Learning Center anticipates offering regular classes beginning in October, once some minor construction at the site they are leasing in downtown Nebraska City is finished.
The initial areas of focus for Nebraska City will be trade and industry, workplace skills, computer programming, English as a second language and workplace Spanish.
Cindy Meyer is the Coordinator for the center, and she has a temporary office at American National Bank in Nebraska City.
The Plattsmouth Learning Center is in the process of hiring a coordinator and plans to offer classes by the 2016 fall quarter.
The initial focus at Plattsmouth will be on trades and industry, healthcare, academic transfer credits and high school partnerships.
The Plattsmouth center “will be a unique site,” said Chesley.  “The owners, Russ and Kim Kathol, have a desire to design a 1920’s theme throughout with a cool fireplace, restored counter for the reception area, early American motif and a coffee shop next door.”
Falls City is hoping to hire a coordinator by August, and they are also looking for “a location suitable for education and training,” Chesley said.  “We are hoping to have a center open and operational (in Falls City) by the end of the year.”
The center will focus on healthcare, trades and industry and workplace skills. Various trade and industry classes have been scheduled for the summer and fall quarters, such as Gas Metal Arc Welding and other manufacturing-focused classes.
Surveying for a learning center location in Wahoo began in 2015, said Chesley, and the process for hiring a coordinator for the center has begun.
The Wahoo learning center has identified workplace skills, trades and industry, healthcare and education as the initial focus and would like to open by the end of this year.
“SCC has received great support from the leadership of this region,” Chesley said, “and we are excited to have a greater presence.”
Finally, the learning center in Hebron is also working on finding a location, as well as hiring a coordinator.
Hebron’s initial focus will be on trades and industry, small business, ag business and general education.
To stay up to date on the progress of the centers, visit https://www.southeast.edu/learningcenters/
For more information regarding the learning center, contact Kelly Morgan (area outreach) at [email protected] or Amy Chesley at [email protected].