The Boys & Girls Clubs of Greater Tampa Bay has opened a workforce training center in South Tampa that extends the organization’s services to young adults through age 24, expanding its traditional role in after-school education and youth development.
The Liberty Workforce Innovation Center, located across from Robinson High School, opened Monday, Oct. 19. It offers career exploration, technical training and opportunities to earn industry-recognized credentials in healthcare, information technology, construction and culinary arts.
The facility is part of a broader shift toward workforce development by the regional nonprofit, which now serves young people across Pinellas, Hillsborough, Pasco and Hernando counties.
Traditional Boys & Girls Clubs programs primarily serve school-age children and teenagers. Liberty extends that relationship into the years when participants may be pursuing their first full-time jobs, considering technical education or seeking alternatives to college.
“Preparing young people for the future means giving them more than exposure to career possibilities. It means providing the skills, experiences and connections to turn those possibilities into opportunities,” said Freddy Williams, president and CEO of Boys & Girls Clubs of Greater Tampa Bay in a prepared statement.
The center features dedicated learning spaces for healthcare and nursing, information technology, skilled trades and culinary training. Its programming also includes financial literacy, workplace readiness, professional development and pre-apprenticeship opportunities.
Employer participation is central to the model. Industry partners can help identify needed skills, provide practical experience and connect participants with potential employment opportunities.
The organization already operates a regional workforce readiness program that includes paid internships, apprenticeships and career exploration. Its partners include BayCare, Bank of America and Habitat for Humanity. An existing Future Leaders initiative also allows teenagers to gain paid work experience within Boys & Girls Clubs facilities.
The Liberty center creates a dedicated location for those activities while expanding the age range of participants.
For Pinellas County, the opening follows a significant organizational change. In April 2025, Boys & Girls Clubs of Tampa Bay and Boys & Girls Clubs of the Suncoast formally combined under the Greater Tampa Bay name.
The merger brought together two organizations with separate histories dating to 1926 in Tampa and 1959 in Pinellas County.
The combined organization already operates workforce-related programming in Pinellas, including a partnership with Pinellas High Innovation, an alternative education setting where students receive career guidance and assistance planning for employment or continued education.
Its Pinellas operations also include the Jordan Park Food Pantry in St. Petersburg, developed in partnership with the St. Petersburg Housing Authority.
The Liberty center provides a potential model for expanding those workforce services throughout the regional organization. Officials have not announced plans for a comparable facility in Pinellas County.
The grand opening drew Lt. Gov. Jay Collins, U.S. Rep. Kathy Castor, state Rep. Danny Alvarez and Troy Selberg, director of workforce initiatives with the U.S. Department of Labor. Ocea Wynn represented the City of Tampa. Marc Jacobson, a foundation trustee who helped fund the center, also participated.
The center opens during the organization’s centennial year. Its predecessor, the West Tampa Boys Club, was established in 1926, while the first Pinellas County club opened in Pinellas Park in 1959.
The expansion also raises practical questions about the next phase of the workforce initiative, including how many young adults the facility can serve, which credentials participants will earn and how employers will translate training into jobs.