Centre County Seeking $1M Grant for Public Safety Training Center Expansion

Centre County is hoping to land a $1 million state grant for a planned expansion of the Public Safety Training Center in Pleasant Gap.

The Board of Commissioners on Tuesday authorized applying for the grant from the Department of Community and Economic Development’s Local Share Account Statewide program on behalf of the county, which owns the facility, and the Central Pennsylvania Institute of Science and Technology, which manages it.

“The center’s hope is to expand training opportunities for both local EMS and fire and law enforcement, but also from a regional approach,” Natalie Corman, Centre County deputy administrator said. “We have a lot of individuals who come here… We are one of the few in the state that can offer the trainings that we do and we really want to expand it based on the desire of our partnership with CPI. 

Commissioners announced plans in 2023 for an approximately $4 million expansion of the center at 391 N. Harrison Rd. to increase education and training space in response to high demand for use of the facility. The county received $2 million in federal funding for the project earlier this year. 

The center not only provides training space for local first responders but also those from an 18-county area, Board of Commissioners Chair Mark Higgins said, and classes offered there have tripled in the past five years while serving thousands of personnel each year. The next closest center of its kind, he added, is a state-owned facility that is booked nearly a year in advance.

“The next closest centers of any size [after Lewistown] are in Harrisburg or in suburban Pittsburgh,” Higgins said. “The commissioners have been very supportive of this to assist our emergency responders.”

Having a training center in a centralized location is important for volunteer personnel, Board Vice-chair Amber Concepcion said.

“Much of the time these are volunteers who are taking their own time to attend training, so having spaces for them to do training nearby to home is advantageous,” Concepcion said.

Commissioner Steve Dershem noted that the center provides a valuable resource not only for fire, police, EMS and Hazmat personnel, but also for local industry.

“A huge part of what that training site has done particularly in the area of economic development is provide for industrial training for many of the local industries in the area that require updates and certifications,” he said. “It’s been fantastic the partnership we’ve managed to create over the last number of years. Big shout out to the folks at CPI for working with us to make that all happen.”