AN INNOVATIVE IDEA — Work continues on the Indian Creek Community Innovation Center, a Mingo Junction facility that will include services for adults and students. -- Contributed

MINGO JUNCTION — When the Indian Creek Community Innovation Center is completed this summer, it will not just help to provide an education to many area students.

It will serve many adults through a walk-in health clinic operated by West Virginia University Medicine, and an office where staff with the Jefferson County Community Action Council will offer help with job searches.

John Belt, assistant superintendent of the Indian Creek Local School District, said the health clinic will be overseen by a nurse practitioner or physician.

“There’s currently no medical provider in the village of Mingo Junction, so it’s going to be a great benefit to the residents there,” said Belt.

The Jefferson County Community Action Council will provide computers for visitors to access the Ohio Means Jobs website and other information for job searches and staff to assist them in preparing resumes.

They also may apply for programs offered through the agency to eligible residents throughout Jefferson County.

That list includes the Workforce Innovation Community Act program, through which dislocated workers and unemployed residents below a certain income level can receive job training and other services.

There’s also the Comprehensive Case Management Employment program, through which income-eligible residents, ages 16 to 24, can obtain summer employment, job training and other assistance.

Belt noted the center is located along an existing route of the Steel Valley Regional Transit Authority, making it more accessible to residents who lack transportation.

The center also will be occupied by programs providing instruction to at-risk students from Jefferson and Harrison counties through the Jefferson County Educational Service Center, and a gym that is slated to be available to the public.

For security purposes, there will be a separate entrance for each agency and program occupying the building.

Ground was broken in June for the center on about 2 acres of land adjacent to Indian Creek Middle School on Wilson Avenue.

Sol Harris/Day Architecture designed the single-story, 1,400-square-foot building, and Hammond Construction is the general contractor.

Several subcontractors are involved in the project, which is being funded with a $6.5 million grant, requiring no local match, from the Ohio Facilities Construction Commission.

Belt said construction is proceeding smoothly and hasn’t been interrupted by the recent frigid weather, with propane heaters being used indoors to maintain a warm temperature to ensure the various materials involved aren’t affected.

“They really pushed hard to get it under roof and do a soft enclosure,” he said.

Belt said crews have installed foam insulation into the walls of the building, have begun insulation for the gym and were wrapping up interior electricity for the structure.

In the weeks ahead, they are slated to apply a brick facade to the building’s sturdy exterior.

Other work, including widening of the middle school’s access road to accommodate additional bus drop-offs, is slated for summer.