LAS VEGAS (KTNV) — The College of Southern Nevada is planning a new training facility on the east side of the Las Vegas valley, an expansion that school officials say will bring more educational and workforce opportunities into the community.
For CSN graduate Kenya Mills, access to career training has already made a difference.
Mills works and lives on the east side of the valley. As a single parent, she said pursuing a career while balancing other responsibilities has not always been easy.
New CSN training facility planned for east Las Vegas
“Being a single parent and still obtaining some type of career path is definitely a challenge,” Mills said.
She said taking a community health worker course through CSN helped her see career opportunities she had not previously considered.
“I was only looking in certain areas, but then when I took the CHW course, it opened up my eyes to what I could actually do,” Mills said.
CSN hopes the planned east Las Vegas facility will provide similar opportunities to more residents.
Stavan Corbett, executive director of CSN’s Division of Workforce, said the college wants to bring additional educational resources into communities where residents may face economic barriers.
“We recognize that a lot of community members, especially from lower economic communities, are not represented as well in health sciences, advanced manufacturing, construction trades, computer information technology,” Corbett said. “And so those are the things that we bring to the community.”
The new facility is expected to be built on the former parking lot of the Desert Pines Golf Course and is planned to open in late 2027 or early 2028.
The programs that will be offered at the campus are still being determined, according to Corbett, but possibilities could range from construction-focused certifications to English-language courses.
Corbett said CSN previously prioritized its West Side Education and Training Center based on economic indicators in that community.
“Where we're sitting right now has all those numbers, has the highest unemployment, the lowest median income, and so that's why we built the West Side Education Training Center first,” Corbett said.
Now, the planned east Las Vegas facility represents another effort to bring workforce training closer to residents.
For Mills, the expansion is a step in the right direction.
“I mean, there's so much potential just stepping out of the house on faith,” she said.
Corbett said 70% of students are hired after completing a program at CSN.
For more details on courses currently available at CSN campuses and cost assistance for students, visit https://www.csn.edu.
