Listen to the broadcast version of this story that ran on Kootenay Morning on July 20, 2026:
By Jaime Frederick, Local Journalism Initiative
A cornerstone of workforce development and poverty reduction in Trail will be closing its doors at the end of September due to cuts in government funding.
For nearly three decades, The Skills Centre has provided job seekers with innovative skills training and education, and led programs in poverty reduction and community development. Many of its initiatives have been directed at youth, women, newcomers, and individuals facing barriers to employment.
Rhys Andrews, board chair of the The Skills Centre Society, says recent shifts in government funding priorities have created significant financial challenges for the organization.
“Our funding all came from provincial and federal governments, almost exclusively,” said Andrews. “And so a reduction in funding for employment services or the poverty reduction work that we’ve done in the community became more and more and more challenging.”
The organization says it’s no longer financially sustainable for them to continue operating the centre. They are working hard to ensure that, where possible, current programs are completed or transferred to other service providers to minimize disruptions to clients and the community, but Andrews notes the centre’s closure will undoubtedly leave a huge gap in services.
“We provide a diverse range of programming,” said Andrews. ‘And some of the programming and clients that [we] are particularly concerned about are people with multiple barriers to employment and some of our poverty reduction work. Some people that are particularly vulnerable. This is a very successful organization that is failing, The Skills Centre. It did good work and that work hopefully will go on to other organizations. But I think there will be a reduction in service level, without question.”
In 2024, the Centre had bought and renovated the buildings at the intersection of Esplanade and Eldorado Streets in downtown Trail with support from Infrastructure Canada, the Columbia Basin Trust, Teck, and other stakeholders. Their intention was to create a community hub, and Andrews says that initiative had been working. But now the organization is faced with potentially having to sell the building.
“We saw that project as a real investment in the community,” said Andrews. “And the goal of that was to operate a community hub, and there’s several not-for-profits operating out of that building right now, along with The Skills Centre. So that vision was happening. But honestly, the level of reduction in our funding is massive and really quite unpredictable. We just did not see it as a potential risk. And now it proves to be otherwise, but it’s a painful aspect of this. And as a not-for-profit we need to be accountable and responsible to this project and see it through the best that we can.”
