The Tyson Foods Pork Plant in Perry will be shutting down at the end of June, and the Des Moines Area Community College VanKirk Academy is offering assistance.

DMACC recently opened a resource center following the announcement of the Tyson closure. According to Perry DMACC’s Director Eddie Diaz, the organization collaborated with the City of Perry to match impacted Tyson employees with funding for training, information on possible training opportunities within the VanKirk Academy plus other DMACC locations, and additional resources. Diaz mentions the resource center has been in the works over the last month.

“It’s been about a six week process to get this going. It really came about from weekly meetings from the group called Perry Next and identified that this would be a need that employees would have, so the group collaborated, they brought in a bunch of different resources to try and get some information to the people.”

Diaz pinpoints that the resource center is open Mondays, Tuesdays, and Thursdays from 1-7pm at the VanKirk Academy, 1101 2nd Street. He illustrates that walk-ins are welcome, but information will be provided on DMACC’s website.