NEW ORLEANS — Just months after graduating from New Orleans Career Center’s (NOCC) adult welding program, 23-year-old Kearries Cooper found himself working 100 feet above the ground, installing steel at Meta’s new data center in Richland Parish, Louisiana. For Cooper, who had spent four years working in restaurants while supporting his young family, the opportunity marked a significant change in his career and financial future.
Cooper’s savings have grown, his family has taken their first cruise, and their financial circumstances have improved.
Cooper represents a new generation of skilled workers entering Louisiana’s construction industry at a critical moment. Major industrial and infrastructure projects are expected to require more than 20,000 construction workers at peak demand later this decade, just as anticipated retirements accelerate the need to replenish the skilled trades workforce…