Butler County Community College continues to grow, especially in under-represented counties in western Pennsylvania. And a new facility planned for its location in Armstrong County is just one more example of that growth.

Fall 2021 will see the college's BC3 @ Armstrong campus, which opened just four years ago, move to a projected $5 million, 25,000-square-foot facility in downtown Ford City. In addition to expending higher education opportunities, administrators hope the move simultaneously spurs economic growth.

“When you see students really having nowhere to go between classes and within a smaller facility, what we are doing is the right thing to do,” BC3 President Nick Neupauer said. “It's exciting that we can bring the strength of Butler County Community College into Ford City in an expanded capacity to serve the students of Armstrong County.”

BC3 also has locations in Butler, Jefferson, Lawrence and Mercer counties. The new location in Armstrong County will lease up to 17,500 square feet within a two-story building that will be constructed on nearly 2.7 acres on Fourth Avenue. The building will be owned by the Nonprofit Development Corp. out of Butler.

The site is the former home of Ford City Junior-Senior High School, which opened in 1909, closed in 2015 and was razed in late 2018.

BC3 @ Armstrong opened in fall 2015, saving its first 23 students enrolled in five on-site classes an otherwise 30-mile, 40-minute drive to BC3's main campus in Butler Township.

BC3's additional location has since enrolled as many as 121 students in up to 33 on-site classes.

While the campus' current home within Lenape Technical School's NexTier Adult Learning Center served the college well, Neupauer pointed out that BC3 @ Armstrong has outgrown its available space.

“(Students) deserve a college experience that we hope to provide in a new local facility that will be easily accessible to all Armstrong County and surrounding county students,” said Karen Zapp, director of BC3 @ Armstrong, pointing out how the current facility includes just three classrooms and two offices.

“It will be exciting to have more student-friendly areas for students who enjoy being here,” Zapp said. “Sometimes it gets a little crowded because we have a lot of students coming and going. There aren't many areas for them to relax and hang out other than in our office.”

The Nonprofit Development Corp., which owns the buildings where the Butler-headquartered Alliance for Nonprofit Resources and Center for Community Resources operate, has agreed to purchase the land owned by the Armstrong School District, said Chris Lunn, the nonprofit organization's chief fiscal officer.

The Nonprofit Development Corp. plans to select DPH Architecture of Canfield, Ohio, to design the building where BC3 will occupy part of the first floor and all of the second, Lunn said.

A third community partner may also be housed within the facility.

The BC3 @ Armstrong project is expected to address the need for dedicated classrooms, learning spaces, computer rooms and a science and chemistry lab, according to BC3 administrators.

Zapp said a science and chemistry lab at the new site will enable the Armstrong campus to provide courses in descriptive chemistry, which can only be taken only at main campus right now, but is in high demand.

Zapp said the menu of course offerings could expand to nearly 40 in the new building.

BC3 @ Armstrong graduated its first students with associate degrees in May 2017. The location offers programs in business administration, general studies and psychology. Next fall it plans to add social work. In 2021, when the new facility opens, programs in criminology and secondary education-social sciences concentration will be added.

The Alliance for Nonprofit Resources and the Center for Community Resources will also utilize the building to offer services in Ford City, Lunn said.

Those services will include ANR providing organizations with support to fulfill their missions with assistance in information technology, human resources and accounting, said Mike Robb, executive director of the Nonprofit Development Corp.

Robb said CCR assists individuals in finding help and information for mental health, intellectual disabilities, substance abuse and other human service needs.

Sen. Joe Pittman, R-41st, whose district includes Armstrong and Indiana counties, and parts of Butler and Westmoreland counties, said BC3 @ Armstrong's move to downtown Ford City represents a great opportunity for the county.

“What I like about this is that it not only provides affordable educational opportunities, but helps to revitalize a piece of property in the heart of Ford City, which is critical,” Pittman said.

Bill Foley is the coordinator of news and media content at Butler County Community College.