Skills Centre marks final day after nearly 30 years in downtown Trail
Published 9:38 am Tuesday, September 29, 2026
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After nearly three decades of employment training, skills development and poverty reduction work in the Lower Columbia, the Skills Centre is reaching the end of the road.
The Trail-based non-profit will cease operations Sept. 30 after almost 30 years serving the community.
Because Sept. 30 is the National Day for Truth and Reconciliation, a statutory holiday in B.C., Tuesday, Sept. 29, marks the organization’s final day open to the public.
In a farewell statement issued Tuesday, the Skills Centre board reflected on the organization’s legacy, thanked the staff and community that sustained it and called attention to financial pressures facing the broader non-profit sector.
The closure comes after the Skills Centre spent much of the past year trying to overcome financial challenges brought on by reductions and changes to federal and provincial program funding.
Beginning in 2025, the organization shifted its focus to fundraising, advocacy and reducing costs while its staff and board searched for ways to keep it operating.
Those efforts included a feasibility study supported by Columbia Basin Trust and funding from the Regional District of Kootenay Boundary to explore partnerships with other non-profits, pursue grant opportunities and continue advocacy.
Ultimately, those efforts were not enough to overcome the organization’s financial challenges.
After the decision to close was made this summer, the Skills Centre sought support from the Vancouver Foundation and received funding from an anonymous donor to help with an orderly wind-down.
That support allowed staff to complete programming with existing clients and transfer many programs, services and intellectual property to other non-profit organizations in the community and region.
Staff also completed a community consultation on potential uses for the organization’s undeveloped warehouse space, shared the latest Thriving For All poverty reduction plan, continued advocacy with provincial and federal funders and helped prepare the building for sale.
“The professionalism and integrity of staff throughout such a difficult time have been remarkable and predictable,” the board said in its final statement.
“The Skills Centre Board commends Emily Gora, the Executive Director, and her staff, along with staff who have worked for the Skills Centre over the years and throughout this past year and a half.”
The Skills Centre building at 1060 Eldorado St. will remain open, with non-profit tenants continuing to rent space while the property is offered for sale.
Offices, storage lockers and the community kitchen will also continue to be available for rent.
The board also used its farewell statement to highlight the financial and volunteer pressures facing non-profit organizations more broadly, pointing to the sector’s role in delivering services ranging from employment and training to food security, health and human services and supports for youth, families and vulnerable residents.
It called on residents to pay attention to candidates’ records and positions on the non-profit sector during the current municipal, regional and provincial elections.
The Skills Centre’s roots in Trail stretch back to 1997.
Funding for the organization was announced the previous year through a joint federal-provincial initiative, making Trail the last of 20 Skills Centres established in B.C. under the program.
By the time the organization celebrated its 20th anniversary in 2017, it was one of only three of those original Skills Centres still operating.
Over the years, the Skills Centre’s work expanded beyond employment services to include skills and workplace training, programs for youth and people facing barriers to employment, poverty reduction initiatives, affordable housing work and other community development programs.
The organization became a registered charity in 2007.
The organization’s latest chapter included a major investment in downtown Trail.
After purchasing the property at the corner of Eldorado Street and Esplanade Avenue, the Skills Centre undertook a 14-month renovation during 2023 and 2024 to create a permanent home for its programs and space for other non-profit organizations.
The 9,000-square-foot building was extensively renovated to improve accessibility and energy efficiency, including the installation of a 50-kilowatt solar array and the removal of natural gas.
The building was intended not only as a permanent home for the Skills Centre but as a shared community space for other non-profit organizations and programs.
Less than two years later, the Skills Centre announced in June that financial pressures meant the organization itself would have to wind down.
In its final statement, the board thanked current and former staff, board members, clients, community partners, funders, volunteers and advocates who supported the Skills Centre over the years.
“We hope that our programming and services continue in one form or another, and that the not-for-profit sector we have been proud to be a member continues as a vital part of the communities we all love.”