photo by: Josie Heimsoth/Journal-World

Douglas County commissioners met on Wednesday, Nov. 5, 2025.

Douglas County commissioners delayed action on a challenge grant program designed to expand technical training and pre-apprenticeship opportunities for students at the Dwayne Peaslee Technical Center.

The initiative is called the “Youth Apprenticeship Challenge Grant,” and county staff presented a framework for it to commissioners on Wednesday. Although county commissioners budgeted $62,500 for 2026, commissioners wanted more information about how the county’s school districts are creating pre-apprenticeship and technical training pathways for their students.

The commissioners are hoping the grant funds will encourage new investments from local businesses, civic organizations, foundations, and private donors. These investments will support Dwayne Pealsee Technical Center’s $10 million endowment campaign, which aims to provide scholarships for low-income high school students and other eligible Douglas County residents. It will also help strengthen the institution’s long-term financial stability.

A memo in the agenda said Douglas County will match contributions of $5,000 or greater dollar-for-dollar up to the $62,500 cap. The challenge grant is also a strategy highlighted in the Community Health Improvement Plan, or CHIP – a five-year roadmap to improve community health.

This past year, approximately 100 high school students have participated in programs at Peaslee Tech and interest in these programs continues to grow, the memo said. The cost per student for pre-apprenticeship programming is $2,500 per student, including tuition, instructional materials, tools or supplies required for the courses as well as access to lab or workshop facilities.

Assistant County Administrator Jill Jolicoeur said the county plans to meet with superintendents of districts in Douglas County to further discuss existing career pathways and explore potential financial support from the districts, but commissioners didn’t think they could approve the framework for the challenge grant without that information.

“I just want to understand from the school districts, before we commit county dollars to it, tell me what you’re providing as a school district to that effort,” Commissioner Patrick Kelly said. Kelly added that this would be a good opportunity to invite school districts to a future business meeting, and commissioners will be reviewing this agenda item again at a later date.

photo by: Josie Heimsoth/Journal-World

Kevin Kelley, CEO of Peaslee Tech, is pictured on Wednesday, Nov. 5, 2025.

In other business, county commissioners:

• Approved a funding service agreement covering the rest of 2025 and all of 2026 with a new partner, Mental Health America of the Heartland — a nonprofit that offers mental health resources, advocacy, and education throughout the Kansas City metro area – for the county’s “flexible housing pool” program. The program provides financial assistance for rent, utilities and other expenses to help individuals move toward stable, long-term housing.

The Mental Health America of the Heartland will be replacing the Bert Nash Community Health Center in providing supportive housing services that are required as part of this program. According to a memo in the agenda, the change is due to the “light of staffing capacity challenges” at Bert Nash, as the Journal-World reported.

Kirsten Watkins, interim CEO of Bert Nash, told the Journal-World in an email on Wednesday that this decision reflects a shared understanding that certain responsibilities fall outside the scope of its core mission as a community mental health center.

“Bert Nash Center will continue to serve these clients through case management and behavioral health support, just as we always have,” Watkins said. “The only change is that another agency, better aligned with functions related to management of housing, will now handle the administrative and property management details.”

This change would become effective Nov. 21 and continue into 2026. For the rest of 2025, the agreement would provide Mental Health America of the Heartland $22,958, and in 2026 it would provide $164,274.

• Approved the county’s participation in a 15-year, 95% tax rebate for the redevelopment of the Reuter Organ building at 612 New Hampshire St. and nearby properties at 614-616 New Hampshire St. in downtown Lawrence. City commissioners have previously approved a 22-year incentive package that includes the rebate on new construction and a new sales tax district adding a 2% sales tax within the building, with a total value of up to $2.95 million. The Lawrence school board will also be asked to participate in the tax rebate.

The project’s goal is to create 10 new residential units in the larger Reuter building, with seven two-bedroom units, two studio/one-bedroom units and one three-bedroom unit. Four commercial units would be developed as well, distributed among the first floor, second floor, rooftop and basement. The smaller building on the south side would be redeveloped to house three commercial units.

• Heard a presentation about the findings and recommendations from a Heritage Partners Needs Assessment — a project to identify the strengths and challenges of local heritage organizations.

A memo in the agenda said the next steps following the assessment include creating a mini strategic plan for the Douglas County heritage partners that defines its mission, vision and values and sets one or two key goals for the coming year — such as collective fundraising, shared resources, collaborative programming or advancing diversity, equity, and inclusion.

The county’s heritage partner organizations include the Douglas County Heritage Conservation Council, Douglas County Historical Society, Clinton Lake Historical Society, Eudora Historical Society, Freedom’s Frontier National Heritage Area, Lecompton Historical Society and the Santa Fe Trail Historical Society.

• Held a work session for an update on the collaboration between Lawrence-Douglas County Public Health, Mobile Integrated Health, Project Lively and Jayhawk Area Agency on Aging to meet the needs of vulnerable seniors in the county. The session discussed the strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and challenges in meeting those needs. No action was taken during the session, as it was for informational purposes only.