Polk County Boys and Girls Club opens Workforce Development Center in Mulberry

MULBERRY, Fla. — Students in Polk County now have a new path to the workforce. The Boys & Girls Club has opened a Workforce Readiness Center to help high schoolers explore careers and build job skills.

Inside a new building, kids at this Boys and Girls Club in Polk County are just being kids. The club serves about 80 children and teenagers.

For Llerli Isidro, it’s a place where she wants to make everyone feel at home. 

“I love working with them every day, and it’s like the best part of my day every day,” she said. 

Isidro is a part-time staff member now and a high school senior, but she was once a student here, too. 

As the oldest of three children, she said the center really had an impact on her life.

“Growing up, I’ve always had to be the one that took care of them, and I feel like coming to the club, I didn’t have to worry about that anymore,” she recalled.

Now that the Boys & Girls Club has created a Workforce Readiness Center, she said it will mean even more opportunities for students to achieve their goals.

“I feel like this could really help them,” Isidro said. “It gives them, like, an insight on the world and what they’re going to do,” she said.

Dustin Hooker is the director of teen initiatives for the center. 

He said they created the space with flexibility in mind to help bring in hands-on training in fields like HVAC, plumbing, culinary and more.

“We can be more of a resource to the community and our young people because now they have something they can call theirs,” Hooker said.

Prior to opening the center, they taught high school students skills like resume writing and taking college tours.

Ashley Ray, the vice president of development, says the center will build on that.

“The high schoolers that we will, we do have a few that have been coming to do community service hours, so they come in and help out with the program. But there is only so much that we’re able to do for them,” she said.

Isidro said the center will help prepare teens for life.

“This could help them in the future, but also they could have fun, they can still be kids. Here, people take care of you,” she said.

Kids being kids in a new space aimed at giving them a pathway to a future career.

The Boys & Girls Club is looking to partner with industry leaders in Mulberry to bring courses to the Workforce Readiness Center.