Missouri Job Center relocates to north side

The Missouri Job Center is serving clients today in its new north-side location that officials hope will improve access to services.

The Job Center is now located at 1600 N. Campbell Ave. in a building the city of Springfield purchased over the summer. Its former site, which closed to the public Oct. 11, was in leased space at 2900 E. Sunshine St.

“We’re all excited to be here and to make this space our own and kind of get to know our neighbors in the area,” said Katherine Proctor, Job Center spokesperson.

City Council in July approved a $3.7 million purchase price for the North Campbell Avenue building, which was most recently used as offices for Convoy of Hope, according to past Springfield Business Journal reporting. The over 50,000-square-foot property was previously owned by Burning Tree Consulting LLC, which is organized with the Missouri secretary of state’s office by developer Titus Williams.

According to past reporting, city officials estimated $2.6 million in improvement costs for the property. Current furnishings in the building were included in the purchase.

Proctor said due to parking lot upgrades needed to make it compliant with the Americans with Disabilities Act, visitors are asked to park in a lot along Boonville Avenue on the east side of the building. Because of oncoming colder weather, she said the lot work likely won’t be addressed until next spring. Signage directs visitors to use a temporary front entrance facing Boonville. 

“As far as the programs and services that we offer, it’s going to be the same as what we offered at the East Sunshine location,” Proctor said, adding the Job Center was in the Southern Hills Shopping Center space for around 15 years.

She said 39 staff members with the city’s former Department of Workforce Development – now part of the recently combined Department of Economic Vitality and Workforce Development – along with nine employees from the Missouri Department of Higher Education and Workforce Development, made the move to the new location. The Job Center is operated by the city in partnership with the MDHEWD.

The new site includes a computer resource area where job seekers can create or update resumes as well as conduct employment searches, according to a news release. It also offers a computer lab for workshops taught by Job Center staff. All services are available free of charge.

“It is a different setup and we’re still trying to work out kinks of where to put different resources and that kind of thing,” Proctor said. “But I do think in the long run it’s going to be a better location for us and put us where we need to be as far as the people that we serve.”

Proctor said the new location will be much more convenient for those with transportation issues.

“We are very close to several bus stops,” she said. “At our other location, if anyone was coming from center city, the north side of town or the west side of town, it was sometimes an hour or two-hour bus ride one way.”