Two nonprofit organizations have updated Reading City Council on grant-funded projects they say could expand workforce training opportunities and improve housing conditions in city neighborhoods.
During a recent council committee of the whole meeting, leaders from Tec Centro Berks and the Daniel Torres Hispanic Center outlined plans tied to federal funding requests supported by the city and championed by U.S. Rep. Chrissy Houlahan.
Violet Emory, executive director of Tec Centro, presented plans for a new trades training center at 433 Pearl St., a former printing facility located directly behind the organization’s current headquarters, 450 S. Sixth St.
Emory said the nonprofit workforce development organization has outgrown its current location and purchased the three-parcel property, which includes a 42,000-square-foot main building, warehouse space and a 45-space parking lot.
“We have students that are interested, we have employees that are waiting for our graduates, and this space is exactly what we need to be able to grow and to be able to reach more of the residents of Berks County,” Emory said.
Earlier this year, the city submitted a request to U.S. Representative Chrissy Houlihan for $1.150 million in community project funding on Tec Centro’s behalf.
Emory said the money would support renovations needed to launch expanded trades programming, including commercial and residential plumbing, facilities maintenance, HVAC and CDL training. Welding would eventually be housed in a separate warehouse building on the property.
Founded in 2019, Tec Centro served more than 1,100 people in 2025 and has hundreds of people on waiting lists for workforce training, English-language classes and HiSET diploma preparation, Emory said.
“Our goal is not to keep students in our doors for years,” she said. “Usually six months or less while our students get accreditation with their training programs.”
Emory said most students remain in Berks after completing the programs.
“We’re working with a lot of single mothers who are just trying to make it work,” she said. “Our students are really rooted here, being educated here, being trained here, and they’re staying here to work.”
City Managing Director Jack Gombach called the project an important investment in workforce development.
“It was very clear that they were serving a need in our community, providing highly specialized job training in a market that’s underserved,” Gombach said.
Michael Toledo, executive director of the Daniel Torres Hispanic Center, also updated council on the organization’s Blueprint Communities initiative focused on housing revitalization along the North Ninth Street corridor between Penn and Douglas streets.
The city also submitted a request to Houlihan for a $1 million federal grant for the organization.
The grant would be used to support an owner-occupied home repair initiative targeting low- to moderate-income homeowners, seniors and residents with disabilities, Toledo said.
“Our mission is to revitalize affordable, high-quality homes,” he said. “We want to look to identify both public and private investment opportunities that may exist, engage and educate the residents that are most affected, and we want to develop local leadership so that transformation is community led.”
The proposal would provide up to $25,000 in repairs for approximately 40 homes, focusing on issues such as heating systems, roofs, accessibility and other health and safety needs.
“The goal is not only to repair homes but to strengthen families and to strengthen those communities and those neighborhoods that we want to be doing work in,” Toledo said.
Toledo said residents have identified safety, affordability and quality housing as priorities during community listening sessions.
“Revitalization should not just happen to residents,” he said. “It should happen with our residents.”
Council members voiced support for both initiatives.
Councilwoman Melissa Ventura, whose district includes part of the targeted Blueprint Communities area, said she appreciated the neighborhood focus of the housing effort.
Council President Donna Reed praised the collaboration among local nonprofits.
“It’s wonderful in Berks County to see groups working together,” Reed said. “Sometimes that hasn’t always been the case.”