
Students in Tec Centro’s Commercial & Industrial HVAC Technician class, work in the Lift Zone computer Lab inside Tec Centro Southwest, 57 Laurel St. in Lancaster city on Thursday, Jan. 30, 2025.
Blaine Shahan / LNP | LancasterOnline
Students in Tec Centro’s Commercial & Industrial HVAC Technician class, work in the Lift Zone computer Lab inside Tec Centro Southwest, 57 Laurel St. in Lancaster city on Thursday, Jan. 30, 2025.
Blaine Shahan / LNP | LancasterOnline
Blaine Shahan / LNP | LancasterOnline
Students in Tec Centro’s Commercial & Industrial HVAC Technician class, work in the Lift Zone computer Lab inside Tec Centro Southwest, 57 Laurel St. in Lancaster city on Thursday, Jan. 30, 2025.
The Tec Centro Workforce Network will expand to two more communities in 2026, local leaders announced as they marked 10 years of Tec Centro vocational training in Lancaster city, where it all started.
Philadelphia and Allentown will get Tec Centro sites in 2026, said Jose R. Lopez, who serves as CEO of the Spanish American Civic Association, which operates Tec Centro as part of its mission to advocate for marginalized communities through human, economic and social services. Tech Centro already has sites in Berks, Dauphin, Lebanon and York counties and two in Lancaster city.
The celebration and announcement were held Thursday at one of the Lancaster city sites – 57 Laurel St. – recently underwent $5 million in renovations that included a computer center for software systems training.
Tec Centro provides bilingual education and skills training to individuals with a focus on education and workforce development. Its first campus, which offers medical and culinary programs, opened in 2014 at 102 Chester St. in southeast Lancaster. Its newest campus, which focuses on mechanical fields, opened in 2021 at 57 Laurel St. in the city’s southwest.
“Tec Centro was created to provide opportunities for individuals to gain skills in high in demand occupations, which allow entry into career pathways that allow for sustainable wages thus ending cycles of poverty,” Lopez said.
READ: Tec Centro Network receives $250,000 grant to support bilingual education, training
Meanwhile, Carlos Graupera, president and CEO of the Tec Centro network, spoke about how Tec Centro’s trajectory should be a lesson to all.
“When the community decides to solve the issue of poverty and reaches out to elected officials, philanthropists and educators, small miracles happen,” he said. “This is what happens.”
Guest speakers at Thursday’s event all agreed that the celebration goes beyond the 10 years since Tec Centro was established to focus on the countless of success stories that have been created within the training center’s walls.
“They know what they are doing. They provide services that are actually meaningful to people and that are making a difference.” said Republican state Sen. Scott Martin. “When people climb the economic ladder in these neighborhoods, it makes a huge difference because they are turning around and reinvesting in their communities and spreading the word about the success that they’ve had.”
Lancaster Mayor Danene Sorace called the organization transformational.
“As I look back at the time that I have spent in office, I think about the kind of effort that has taken to turn the page to what our community is today,” Sorace said. “It has been transformed at the core beginning because SACA invested in housing and then it went on to transform a property that brought people in and trained them to have jobs and invest in themselves, their families. SACA and Tec Centro are responsible in part for the transformation of our city.”
The demand for training across all centers far outpaces the resources, according to the network’s 2024 annual report. As of December, the network had a waiting list of more than 4,700 who want training. In Lancaster there are 2,838 individuals on the waiting list, which will require nearly $10 million to serve.
The services and programs offered at the centers include allied health, culinary arts, mechanical and technical, construction, building maintenance and commercial driver’s license. Tec Centro’s doors are open to everyone regardless of race, education, income or any other factor. The demographics of people served vary from location to location, but primarily include diverse cultures, bilingual and non-English speakers who are commonly unemployed or underemployed and living at or below the poverty line.
A collection of interviews, photos, and music videos, featuring local musicians who have stopped by the WITF performance studio to share a little discussion and sound. Produced by WITF’s Joe Ulrich.