GLENDALE : Retraining Agency Moves to Larger Site

The 9-year-old Glendale Community College Professional Development Center has moved into larger quarters in Montrose to expand its services into other communities.

The center is the largest provider of contract education--featuring consultants who travel to companies to retrain employees--among the nation’s community colleges, said Mike Davitt, a project facilitator.

College officials will join center employees at a ribbon-cutting ceremony and an All-American Western Celebration to kick off an open house at the center, located at 2340 Honolulu Ave., from 6 to 9 p.m. Thursday.

The new site, with administrative offices and five classrooms, is about 20% larger than the organization’s former headquarters on Central Avenue in Glendale, Davitt said.

Funded through grants from the state’s employment training panel, the center has helped more than 6,000 companies train 16,000 employees to use new technologies, said Wendy Grove, an editorial assistant at the college.

Companies are not required to pay a fee to receive help from the center, but must guarantee that employees enrolled in retraining courses will complete them.

The center works mainly with aerospace firms to retrain workers on computer systems so they can become more competitive and profitable, Davitt said.

Although the center is a division of Glendale Community College, it does not concentrate on training students. Instead, it markets its services to companies located both in and outside of Glendale.

The center has brought more than $25 million to the college since it was established in 1985 through fees from companies who are uncomfortable taking state money to retrain their workers, Davitt said.