Skilled-trades initiative to give students career-path guidance

In a building just north of the Boys and Girls Clubs of Fort Wayne, the floor vibrated with change as community leaders today celebrated a new initiative to give students experience in the skilled trades.

Joe Jordan of the Boys and Girls Clubs laughed as he and Tom Kelley of Kelley Automotive swung sledgehammers at a wall inside the future home of the Jim Kelley Career Pathway Center.

The youth organization expects to open the training center in August. It will expose students to such areas as supply chain management, automotive, manufacturing and construction trades.

Fort Wayne Community Schools and Fort Wayne United are among those involved in the effort.

"When you talk about these pipelines drying up, we have to do something about it," Jordan said. "It's getting uninformed youth informed about the career pathways in those industries so they can have a bright future."

asloboda@jg.net