Plans for a Center for Career and Technical Education in Minot moved forward with the Minot City Council’s support Monday for a $800,000 grant from the MAGIC Fund.

The grant supports a request from Minot Area Development Corp. for resources to buy a Trinity building at 120 Burdick Expressway East. Combined with $3.45 million recently authorized by the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development from Minot’s Community Development Block Grant-National Disaster Resilience program, the MAGIC Fund money will help launch programs to provide specialized career-oriented training programs for Minot residents.

A CTE center was included in Minot’s National Disaster Resilience program for $1.5 million, but about $2 million also was shifted from an abandoned plan for a downtown gathering space. The money will be used for building renovations.

The purchase price of the building is $1.1 million, but Trinity agreed to contribute back to the CTE center $300,000. The current plan is for Minot State University Foundation to own the property once purchased.

A stakeholders committee also has had discussions with the MSU Foundation, Dakota College at Bottineau Foundation, St. Joseph’s Community Health Foundation and Minot Area Community Foundation about funding assistance.

The center is expected to employ nine full-time and two part-time staff, which would grow to 12 full-time employees and four part-time in five years. It also is expected to increase workforce availability locally.

The center potentially could open by fall of 2022. Within a few years, it is expected to have capacity for 250 to 300 students. The initial focus of the center will be information technology and health careers.