US carmaker Ford will invest R11.5-million in the construction and operation of a new job training and entrepreneurial development centre at its South African assembly plant, in Silverton.

The Ford Resource and Engagement Centre (FREC) is slated to open in October.

Ford Motor Company (FMC) Fund and Community Services president Jim Vella says the FREC is only the second resource centre of its kind to be created by the company in the world, with the first located in Detroit, US, where unemployment reached between 11% and 13%.

Ford’s head office is in Detroit.

Vella says South Africa has been selected as the second FREC site, as Ford has a long history in South Africa; as the Ford Motor Company of Southern Africa was a growing and enthusiastic participant in Ford’s global month of caring – which focuses on involving employees in community projects – and as there is a clear need for such a centre in South Africa.

It is anticipated that the centre will assist around 200 people a year, most of them from the Mamelodi community.

The centre will operate in partnership with the nongovernmental organisation, Future Families.

Future Families’ Penny Learmonth says the centre’s first course will be on early childhood development and afterschool care, to be followed by training on entrepreneurship and a variety of entry-level job positions.

Training will include aspects such as financial literacy, career guidance and job dress codes, for example.

“There will be a strong focus on employability,” says Learmonth. “The training will be for free.”

She notes that youth unemployment in Tshwane is at 32%.

Vella adds that the FREC will follow the lead of the community on the projects they would like to see happen at the centre.

The Detroit centre, for example, has evolved into a facility that also offered an arts programme, as well as a regular farmers’ market.

Since opening in Detroit three years ago, the original FREC has assisted more than 80 000 local residents through a range of social and cultural services, including providing 1.2-million pounds of food and helping to complete 6 100 tax returns.