Innovation center aims to serve entire county

MINGO JUNCTION -- T.C. Chappelear says that the newest education building in the Indian Creek Local School District, the Jefferson County Innovation Center, is appropriately named.

“We wanted that name vs. Indian Creek because, rightly so, people are tribal when it comes to their school districts. We want this to be a resource that will benefit everyone in Jefferson County,” Chappelear said while speaking during Thursday’s grand opening celebration of the center.

“This isn’t an Indian Creek building. We own it, but we don’t have an employee on our payroll in the building. Thanks to these providers, we’re going to be able to offer the services that make for a strong community,” he added.

A part of the complex that includes Indian Creek Middle School, Hills Elementary School and the Muth baseball field, the building will house a variety of services that will help students throughout the region as well as residents of Mingo Junction and surrounding communities.

The 14,000-square-foot, one-story building will house a walk-in clinic operated by WVU Medicine, mental and behavioral health services administered through Alliance Integrated Care LLC, a job assistance program offered through the Jefferson County Community Action Council and Ohio Means Jobs and the Quest Center alternative school operated through the Jefferson County Educational Service Center.

Built at a cost of $6.5 million, the project was completely funded with money from the Appalachian Community Innovation Centers Grant Program, which was administered by the Ohio Facilities Construction Commission. A total of $18 million was awarded to 14 districts throughout the state through the program.

“The most important thing to me is that we actually invest in the communities,” said state Rep. Ron Ferguson, R-Wintersville. “We need to invest in things that your tax dollars are meant for, things like education, first responders and roads. This really capitalizes on a lot of that. I hate to see waste in government, and there’s nothing wasteful about this.”

Two of the centers built with that money -- the Jefferson County center and a similar facility in Bridgeport -- are in Ferguson’s district.

The center is the latest new building to be built in Indian Creek in the last 14 years, a list that includes Indian Creek Middle School, Indian Creek High School and Cross Creek Elementary School. Extensive renovations also have been done at Hills Elementary School.

Assistant Superintendent John Belt said money from the commission covered 40% of the cost of the middle school and 60% of the cost of the high school and elementary school, as well as the total cost of the innovation center. He and Dr. Ted Starkey, a longtime school board member, said all of the construction the district has seen is impressive.

Having modern facilities is important, officials explained.

“It’s exciting for our kids and the communities,” said Chuck Kokiko, superintendent of the Jefferson County Educational Service Center. “You always hear that when people look at communities, one of the things they look at is the school systems. We need to travel around the state for meetings, and you see facilities and things that we have been lacking, to be honest. To see the upgrades our districts have been able to do throughout Jefferson County is exciting.”

The innovation center will help all school districts, Kokiko added, and will open opportunities for future growth.

“Jefferson County has so many needs, being a high-poverty county in the Appalachian region,” Belt said. “It’s truly a blessing for us to be able to land a grant like this and bring desperately needed services to young people and medical services to the village. We’re excited to work with the CAC to have a job access point for displaced workers, where they can build a resume and apply for a job or retraining. It will boost the employment rate in our county.”

Plus, Belt explained, the Quest center will finally have a permanent home, which will make it easier for districts to plan for transportation needs.

Each area in the building will have a separate entrance, and patients at the clinic and people using the workforce center will not have access to the portions of the building where the students will be. The clinic, which, like the job center, will be available to all area residents, will offer medical services that have been missing from the village for the last seven years or so.

Mingo Junction Mayor Judy Ruckman said the addition of the center is great for the village.

“I think this is an enormous step forward,” she explained. “We have people who don’t drive, so they will be able to use the facility to look for jobs, and they’ll be able to get some kind of medical care locally instead of going to the emergency room.”

Being able to provide health care to members of the community is an important part of the project.

“We have an opportunity to be a part of the community in Mingo Junction,” said Dave Artman, chief executive officer of WVU Medicine-Weirton Medical Center. “We’re really excited to be able to provide high-quality health care here. It’s been a long time since they have had a provider in this area, and we look forward to being that provider.”

Belt thanked Hammond Construction Inc. of Akron and Sol Harris-Day Architecture of North Canton for their work on the project.

School board President Steve Cowser said the facility will help the area in many ways.

“We are able to bring together all of the communities in the county and provide needed health care to adults and students, as well as a place for the Quest program. Everything is in one place, and it saves the taxpayers and the school district lots of money and keeps our kids in the county.”

That’s important, explained Fabian Rosel, a nurse practitioner who is the clinical director at Alliance Integrated Care.

“It’s going to be a really good resource,” he said. “Kids will come in for the school day and will be able to get everything here.”