Thousands of Louisvillians, elected officials and community partners gathered in the Parkland neighborhood to celebrate a facility that aims to serve west Louisville residents who live in communities facing disinvestment.
Goodwill Industries of Kentucky’s West Louisville Opportunity Center, now open at 28th Street and West Broadway, is a 125,000-square-foot resource center.
“This is what happens when people of good will know that they're trying to uplift their fellow man and woman. This is what happens when hope is alive.” said Kentucky state Sen. Gerald Neal at the event.
The facility is expected to host a collection of programs, services and amenities for west Louisville residents. Community members will have access to a cafe, a technology lab, child care, dental services, behavioral health therapy, prayer and meditation rooms and a business center.
“This is a place where hope will live. It's a place where hope will exist. It's a place where dreams will be nurtured,” said Goodwill’s Chief of External Affairs DeVone Holt.
Career coaching, job training, youth mentoring, soft skills training and restorative justice services will be offered for free at the Opportunity Center.
These services are available through collaborations with community partners like Big Brothers Big Sisters of Kentuckiana, Volunteers of America Mid-States, Kentuckiana Works, Legal Aid Society and University of Louisville’s School of Dentistry. All the center’s partners have in-house offices on campus.
“We know that if we want to build that big, bright future for everyone, that requires us to invest,” said Gov. Andy Beshear at the grand opening. “That's what you see here today at Goodwill.”
With the opening of the Opportunity Center, officials expect the facility to bring in more than 200 jobs to west Louisville residents at an average $59,000 a year. The living wage in Louisville is $36,854 a year for a single adult.
Goodwill officials and elected leaders said the center is expected to serve 50,000 people and place 600 residents into full-time employment within a year.
Construction for the center began in 2022. The campus was once an abandoned brownfield created by years of industrial use, said Neal, a West End native.
“This site moving from brownfield to hope, replacing the dilapidated industrial building with a vibrant campus that symbolizes community pride, and optimism for a brighter future is a transformative engine that will not only transform the physical makeup, but transform lives,” Neal said.
The Opportunity Center is part of Norton Healthcare Goodwill Opportunity Campus. Norton Healthcare plans to open the Norton West Louisville Hospital in November. It will be the first full hospital in the West End in over a century.
