Mt. Prospect training center to open in summer

A group dedicated to the developmentally disabled will set up a job training center in a Mount Prospect building this summer.

Chicago-based Search Inc. recently bought a one-story building at 625 Slawin Court in the Kensington Business Center and plans a grand opening for its newest vocational center.

"The thing we are excited about is that we are looking forward to being part of the community, so our people will not only be training in the area, but will also be out in the community participating in volunteer work and adding to the economy," said Donna Catalano, Search's chief operating officer.

The building will be used as a vocational training center for people who live in the group homes that Search runs. Search residents live with various degrees of mental disabilities, she said.

Job skills and work readiness programs will be taught to Search residents, who will travel to the center by day and return to their homes in the evening.

Search runs 26 group homes in the Chicago area, with three operating in Mount Prospect and another one planned later in the year. Each home is made up of four to eight people.

The group is moving its operations from a training center in Northbrook to the Mount Prospect location, which offers more space to train residents, Catalano said.

The Mount Prospect center, a 37,000-square-foot building, will accommodate up to 250 people when it opens.

Search is looking to move in at the end of July. Building remodeling is causing the delay.

Catalano did not disclose the sale price for the building. The center was made possible by a tax-exempt $11 million state loan, she said.