LOUISVILLE, Ky. (WDRB) -- The Goodwill Opportunity Center, which provides life-changing resources for west Louisville residents, invited people to an open house Tuesday on its recently completed $50 million campus in west Louisville.

The West Louisville Opportunity Center on the Norton Healthcare Goodwill Opportunity campus opened March 20. Located at the corner of 28th Street and Broadway in the Parkland neighborhood, the campus is empowering residents by offering a hand up rather than a hand out. And the center extended a hand to everyone with the open house Tuesday, during which people were welcomed to stop in and check out the resources available and talk with partners that include KentuckianaWorks, Big Brothers Big Sisters of Kentuckiana, YMCA, Volunteers of America and the Legal Aid Society.

The Park Community Credit Union is also available to help people set up bank accounts. The Kentucky College of Barbering is on-site as well, and the UofL College of Dentistry is available to provide services.

Directors said the workload is like drinking water from a firehose.

"The need in the community is so great," said Emery Lee, director of the center. "We started seeing traffic almost immediately before even our staff were in place. So this open house is a way to introduce to the community. We've got staffing in place. We've got programs training in place. We're ready to serve anyone who comes in to deal with what the barriers may be for employment."

Will Schnitzker is grateful for the programs after receiving training for a new job he plans to start with Goodwill. He has begun the process of opening a bank account and started looking into classes at Jefferson Community & Technical College all in one place and all in one day.

He said that would have been impossible otherwise since he doesn't own a vehicle to get around town. 

"An errand takes 20 minutes," Schnitzker said. "If you don't have a vehicle at the moment, a 20-minute errand is an hour. So having multiple things here will help everybody."

Lee said that's exactly why the center was built, to help Schnitzker and others get back on their feet. Lee said demand for services has been high: the soft skills training classes are full, and the career coaches have full caseloads, each helping anywhere from 25-30 people land jobs.

If you couldn't make it to Tuesday's open house, you're welcome to stop by whenever it's convenient. 

In its 100-year history, the $50 million resource center is the largest mission-related investment ever for Goodwill Industries of Kentucky. The center was built in an effort to eliminate poverty in west Louisville, which is made up of nine neighborhoods with a population of 65,000 people and a median household income of $21,000.

Officials expect the opportunity center to serve more than 50,000 people each year. 

Goodwill Industries of Kentucky operates in 103 of Kentucky's 120 counties. The organization has 67 retail stores around the state. 

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