(New Castle, PA) A nonprofit organization that partners with providers of courses or programs that lead to educational, occupational, professional or vocational credentials now shares a Shenango Commons suite with a Butler County Community College additional location established 12 weeks ago.

The 27-year-old Lawrence County Learning Center, one of Pennsylvania’s 10 Community Education Councils, has moved from 101 S. Mercer St., New Castle, to a space it sublets at BC3 @ Lawrence, Suite 129, 2658 Ellwood Road in Shenango Township.

Community Education Councils also develop with partners customized job training for area employers, and identify, implement and oversee new or innovative efforts to provide access to post-secondary opportunities in educationally underserved areas of Pennsylvania, according to the state Department of Education, which funds the councils.

BC3 @ Lawrence opened Aug. 25 and offers 12 career or transfer programs that lead to associate degrees.

“We thought that colocating with BC3 and their new location in Shenango Commons would be beneficial for both organizations,” said Colleen Chamberlain, president of the Lawrence County Learning Center’s board of directors. “We are hoping that it will drive additional foot traffic to BC3’s location, and we think we have a better location to provide additional training opportunities for communities in Lawrence County.”

The Lawrence County Learning Center will staff a site administrator in a dedicated office in the suite and can schedule training or meetings in available BC3 @ Lawrence classrooms or conference rooms.

“We share a very similar mission with the learning center, and those who are utilizing its services will get to experience BC3 @ Lawrence,” said Megan M. Coval, BC3’s president. “They may realize there is an opportunity for them to build on what they’ve accomplished with the learning center and continue their studies at BC3.

“This is a wonderful example of what we are really focused on, which is collaboration, not competition.”

BC3 @ Lawrence in 2026 will host hands-on mobile laboratory sessions for high school juniors and seniors participating in an advanced manufacturing pre-apprenticeship program from the Pennsylvania College of Technology, Williamsport, and coordinated by Forward Lawrence in partnership with the Lawrence County Learning Center.

“What we have found working with our employers in Lawrence County is that there are a lot of basic skills missing from new employees in manufacturing,” Chamberlain said. “They walk into a manufacturing environment and they have never really been exposed to it.”

Manufacturers employed the second-highest number of workers among Lawrence County sectors as of September, according to the state Department of Labor & Industry’s Center for Workforce Information & Analysis.

The center recognizes that multiple manufacturers and organizations of all sizes are facing a shortage of skilled equipment maintenance personnel and employees with foundational technical skills,” said Paul Bucciarelli, the center’s workforce specialist.

Twenty-two high school students from six Lawrence County school districts completed the advanced manufacturing pre-apprenticeship program in 2025, and 13 earned the certified manufacturing associate credential from the Society of Manufacturing Engineers, Bucciarelli said.

The mobile laboratory sessions in 2024 and 2025 were held at the learning center’s previous location in downtown New Castle, Bucciarelli said.

BC3 established additional locations to serve Pennsylvania counties underrepresented by higher education. The college in 1989 opened its first additional location outside of Butler County in Lawrence County. BC3 created BC3 @ Lawrence Crossing in Union Township in 2008, which was succeeded by BC3 @ Lawrence in Shenango Township.

“We continue to examine partnerships and creative collaboration with local and neighboring education and training providers like BC3 in an effort to leverage resources,” Bucciarelli said. “We recognize the need to collaborate with these providers to deliver low-cost, high-quality training and education to our workforce.”