WEPA in Lebanon launches real estate entity to charge rent, address growth

Two years after opening its doors for business, the WEPA Empowerment Center has created a new entity, WEPA Real Estate Management Inc.

WEPA co-founder Rafael Torres said the management company was incorporated at the beginning of June to serve several purposes. One is to generate revenue at the nonprofit WEPA/Tec Centro Lebanon facility in the former historic Elks building at 9 S. 9th St., Lebanon. WEPA is a workforce training and education nonprofit.

“In order for us to charge the (state) grant rent, rental income or rental space, we have to have a subsidiary in place,” he said. “So right now we can charge the rent that we receive anywhere between $15 and $22 a square foot, and that equates to around $20,000 to $25,000 a month for the use of the main floor and the second floor.”

Torres noted the commonwealth offers financial assistance but does not own nonprofit properties, which requires the entity to charge rent for use of the current space. “They lease properties, they lease space for their programs,” he explained.

Another reason the management company was created is that WEPA is experiencing growing pains just two years after accepting students for adult learning in a variety of career disciplines in August 2023. 

LebTown asked Torres if the new management company is able to purchase space or if it just allows the organization to raise funds to address future real estate needs.

“Well, it does both, so thank you for asking that,” Torres said. “The subsidiary piece will be able to purchase additional property, will be able to have rental properties to generate income to support the program.”

Having the management company will benefit the nonprofit in multiple ways, according to Torres.

“That’s the problem with a lot of nonprofits, we’re not income generators. We’re receptors of government funding, we’re receptors of donors that are tuned into or like what we’re doing in our missions. But we need to be self-sustaining. Nonprofits should find ways to self-sustain,” he added.

The rent revenue will allow WEPA to renovate the rest of the facility and expand elsewhere in the future. The $750,000 funding WEPA received through the American Rescue Plan Act from Lebanon County Commissioners during the pandemic has been spent. Most of the ARPA funding ($525,000) was used to purchase the old Elks building and the balance was put towards first- and second-floor renovations.

Read More: 11 projects funded, Lebanon County seeks to spend remaining ARPA dollars

That funding did not, however, cover all necessary renovations.

“The building is not 100% renovated for full capacity. Right now, we have the challenge of not having a full elevator to gain access to the bottom floor to meet ADA (Americans with Disabilities Act) standards,” Torres said. “So we haven’t been able to utilize … almost 6,000 square feet of the building.”

Torres said LebTown’s request for an interview came at a fortuitous time. Construction plans are moving forward to renovate the basement to expand WEPA’s services while also restoring the elevator so access to that floor is ADA compliant and renovations can occur.

“The team came up with a plan of what the (next) steps are. We have funding that was set aside through HUD, which is the Housing and Urban Development, through our congressional representative, Congressman (Dan) Meuser,” Torres said. “He advocated and we got a million dollars to do renovations in the ground floor to be able to have money to be able to build the elevator and staircase tower. The city, through the mayor’s office, has a requirement that we need to have those things in place to give everybody access to it.”

ADA compliance is required to receive that $1 million and additional funding needed to complete the lower-level renovations that were previously projected to run around $1.6 million.

“We also were able to secure early on what we call casino monies, the Local Share Account,” Torres said. “The state requires all the casinos to put money aside in a pot. Lebanon County has access because of the Grantville casino that’s close by. Lebanon County does have two different pots. One is a statewide allocation, the other one is a local (share account).

While the LSAs typically help fund fire departments, Torres said his organization decided to pursue a statewide casino-funded grant.

“We went ahead and put in for the statewide grant, and we were in competition with quite a few hundred other organizations statewide to secure $400,000 for our renovation that’s from the casino fund,” he said. “So we got $400,000 from the casino fund and a million dollars from the HUD grant to finish out with the (lower-floor) renovation.”

The original projected cost of $1.6 million may have risen since that figure was calculated.

Asked if they are able to meet the cost difference between the original estimate and the amount that has been raised, Torres responded with a laugh, “I just hope we can come out on the right side of this tariff war. Because with it, we have to account for increases in materials, so hopefully we can find a supply chain here locally in the U.S.”

In a statement emailed to LebTown, Congressman Dan Meuser wrote:  “In the FY2023 appropriations process, my office secured $1 million in Community Project funding for the WEPA Empowerment Center. The funds for this project, as appropriated by Congress, remain fully available under the current administration. 

“One of the final steps in the process is the completion and submission of an environmental impact study, which is currently underway. My office has been in regular contact with Rafael Torres, Founder & CEO of WEPA Empowerment Center Inc., throughout this process, and his team has remained in close touch with the project’s HUD Coordinator. We will continue to work alongside Rafael, HUD, and the City of Lebanon to ensure this important funding moves forward as intended.”

While the second floor offers healthcare-related fields and computer classes, the lower level of the WEPA building will house adult learning classrooms for the trades.

“Our building trades, which are carpentry, plumbing, electric, along with basic skills. Basic skills for the population in general, but also to be conscious of language skills,” Torres said. “So we have a combination of language skills for folks that are coming from other parts of the world, coming to (learn) English.”

Torres noted those individuals aren’t the only ones who need assistance with the English language.

“But also our public education numbers are not so good either, because kids are too busy, or young adults are too busy being entertained on their phones, that they’re not reading like we used to,” he said. “A lot of them are coming in to the center regardless of whether you’re a primary English speaker or not with reading levels that are pretty low, so we have got to be aware of that.”

Read More: WEPA center opens new healthcare classrooms in downtown Lebanon

Torres said 5,500 square feet at the lower level will be converted into classroom space to accommodate between 10 and 12 adult learners per room. 

“We know what happens with classroom sizes of 20, 30 students: you always lose people. So we don’t want to do that,” he said. 

Another class to be offered in the lower level is robotics.

“There is a statewide program that will help us to bring AI and robotics training and we’ll have a flex space. I love flex space because then you can pivot and utilize it the best way possible,” Torres said.

Groundbreaking is tentatively slated to occur this fall assuming one domino falls into place. 

“As soon as I get confirmation that our (federal) funding is still safe because of the new guidelines of the new administration. I told you that it was the previous administration (Biden) that gave us the funding, so our next move is to ensure that we have the funding to go ahead and have the groundbreaking,” added Torres.

Read More: Nearly 50 graduate from Tec Centro Lebanon in inaugural healthcare class

If the funding is still there, Torres said groundbreaking for the renovations to the lower level will begin this fall. 

“We would then have it open, open the space by next fall, September of next year, that’s my goal,” he said. “We’re looking at four rooms, so that’d be 40-plus (students) depending on if it’s part-time or full-time classes because our center’s open from 8 in the morning till 9 at night. We do have nighttime classes.”

Torres said WEPA officials feel fortunate that they’ve been able to partner with other organizations and businesses in the educational programming that the center offers to adults looking to learn new skills.

“The dental program, the bulk of it is done at WEPA at night times, but we have an off-site location where they’re doing their quote-unquote clinicals or their practices,” Torres said. “And that’s Volunteers in Medicine, the VIM, and Union Community Care. So right there, there’s three of us collaborating to fill the gap in the dental field.”

There’s even more opportunities for adults wanting to pursue a new career. Torres shared another new endeavor with LebTown that WEPA is bringing to the Lebanon Valley.

“We’ve been able to expand because we’ve been able to partner with other organizations outside of our physical space. We partnered with a truck driving company out of Womelsdorf for our CDL program,” he said. “The school that’s in Womelsdorf is gonna be doing all the hands-on driving portion of it. They have like six 18-wheelers on their lot. They’re gonna come to our existing building here at WEPA and give the students the classroom material, and then their practicals they will do in Womelsdorf.”

Numbers for WEPA’s healthcare program are also on the rise, according to Torres.

“The nursing program, I’ve actually been able to expand it. So for CNA (certified nursing assistant), there will be a couple of medical assistant classes that we’re gonna be starting,” Torres said. “One in the fall, one in the spring. We got two phlebotomy classes that are also gonna be starting, one right after another. So we’re gonna be having a fall and a spring session. Last year we just had one group.”

The new real estate entity should help lessen the load that WEPA is carrying with its waiting list that continues to grow.

“In the last numbers I thought I saw over 800 adults waiting for the different training programs. My challenge is to gain more space to be able to provide training. But along with that, we do pay tuition dollars to institutions like HACC to bring in their expertise,” Torres said. “So it’s not like they’re coming in and getting a certificate from WEPA and that’s it.”

Learning from accredited institutions adds importance to the programs that the graduates are training in for WEPA programs that typically run from six months to about a year.

“They’re actually getting college professors and accredited training. So that way it has some teeth to it,” Torres said. “I need partners that are coming in to bring their expertise and help us to make the community better.”