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Following a strong push to start up a new venture in Jefferson, the pandemic has impacted the progress of seeing final results.

The Forge, located at 204-206 East State Street, finished construction in 2019 and is operated by the global software development company of Accenture. The purpose of The Forge was to give high school students the opportunity to enroll in a training program with Accenture and once finished, the student could then have the opportunity to work full-time for the company without any financial debt. 

Chris Deal is part owner of the building and updated the Greene County Development Corporation Board on Tuesday that Accenture has changed the training model.

“They now call it an internship instead of a training program, and they actually pay. They pay $20 per hour for this. And so instead of unpaid training it’s actually a paid position, which was a very pleasant surprise.”

Deal said Des Moines Area Community College and Iowa Central Community College continue to be the leads on this new program. He pointed out that DMACC has had three groups of students take part in the internship, with only one electing to apply for Accenture’s apprenticeship program, which it was mentioned that the estimated salary was between $40,000 and $50,000.

Deal also shared an update of the status of The Forge in Jefferson.

“The response from Accenture is that they are closed worldwide. So if they are not opening (their) Chicago (office) they are probably not going to be opening (their) Jefferson (office) anytime soon. But as the pandemic continues to evolve and if we go from a pandemic to an endemic, and we watch and see kind of how these major employers are starting to adjust, I think our opportunity for looking for innovative uses of that building probably opens back up a little bit here.”

Deal said the computer science classes continue with the Greene County School District as part of the preparation for the eventual programs with Accenture. He hopes more students take advantage of the programs through DMACC and ICCC.