Teenagers who drop out of school can find it difficult to make the jump to a well-paying job.

That jump can seem like a leap over a chasm for a Hispanic without good English-language skills or basic employment training.

The result is high levels of unemployment and under-employment in Lancaster city's Hispanic community.

"This is a second-chance system," Carlos Graupera said in introducing Tec Centro, a skills training center the Spanish American Civic Association is planning for a former industrial building at 102 Chester St.

The nonprofit SACA Development Corporation bought the building in November. SACA plans to spend as much as $2.4 million to turn the 15,000-square-foot building into classroom space.

The building, in the heart of the city's southeast, would be a bilingual training center where adults would learn basic skills needed for construction or building maintenance, health care, culinary arts or computer or office jobs.

Graupera, SACA's president, said he hopes to begin construction next spring and complete the renovation this year.

Once it is open, he hopes about 300 people complete training there in the first year of operation. Most courses would last eight weeks. Students could take additional courses, but most would complete Tec Centro studies within six months.

Classes would be held during the day, in the evening and on weekends.

The intent is to reach people who dropped out of school because they were academically unsuccessful, had children or were sent to prison.

Tec Centro would be a chance for them to learn basic employment skills or get ready to enroll in a more traditional school, like Thaddeus Stevens College of Technology or Lancaster General Hospital's nursing college.

Tec Centro would be aimed at Lancaster's Hispanic community. Other programs offer little or no Spanish-language training, Graupera said. What little is available is likely to dry up as education budgets shrink, he said.

Graupera said Lancaster's Hispanic community needs to address the problem itself if it wants to help lift people out of poverty.

SACA, however, is seeking to partner with other organizations. Organizations represented on the Tec Centro advisory board include the Lancaster Workforce Investment Board, Lancaster County Career and Technology Center, School District of Lancaster, Harrisburg Area Community College, Stevens College, Building Industry Association, and Lancaster General Health.

Scott Sheely, Workforce Investment Board's executive director, said the initiative is an expansion of some of the efforts already being made. About 25 percent of the people coming to the Workforce Investment Board's work force readiness training do so through SACA, he said.

One aspect that is different about the Tec Centro program will be that it incorporates language training into the job training, Sheely said.

"Usually, you learn English, then you do the skill training because we haven't found the people to do the crossover," he said.

Graupera said SACA has had success with "community educators" in doing the skills training. Those people may not be trained teachers but can pass on knowledge of trade skills to those in the community, he said.

Sheely said such training is the foundation of apprenticeships, but might not be recognized by educational institutions.

SACA's directors plan to seek accreditation from the state Department of Education as a private school.

Graupera said SACA will soon begin seeking grants to help fund the project. Once enough pledges and commitments are made, he hopes to begin construction.

Sheely said he is not waiting to begin the programming for the project.

"The best way to resolve this issue is to start right away, get it off the planning and get it started," Graupera said.

bharris@lnpnews.com