Messick Vocational and Adult Center is the only all-adult facility in Memphis City Schools. Messick Center provides a centralized site for a variety of education and training programs and community-based activities. There are no designated districts or boundaries. More than 40 satellite centers are established yearly throughout Memphis.

Messick is the central administrative and program site for Adult Basic Education and General Education Diploma (ABE/GED) Programs, the Families First ABE/GED program, English as a Second/Other Language for adults, Adult Vocational Training Programs, Vocational Services for Internationals, and Memphis Adult High School. The center provides day and evening classes, twelve months a year, for adults with a variety of educational needs. The student profile is as diverse as the community served and reflects the difference in cultural, social, and economic strands of the Memphis metropolitan area. Adult Education programs are open to anyone seventeen (17) years of age or older, who is not presently enrolled in a regular secondary school program. Pupil Services of Memphis City Schools or Juvenile Court may grant age waivers to students less than seventeen (17) years of age.

The center serves as the central site for training collaboratives between Memphis City Schools and local Electrical, Plumbing and Sheet Metal Union Apprenticeship programs. Additionally, Messick is the central administrative and training site for the largest Families First training collaborative for Adult Basic Education in the state of Tennessee. This initiative is a formal partnership between the Tennessee Department of Labor and Workforce Development (Office of Adult Education), Department of Human Services, and Memphis City Schools. All Families First participants enrolled at Memphis City Schools sites are eligible for Free and Reduced priced meals, and the MCS Division of Nutrition and Catering Services and the Nutrition Training Center are also housed at this facility. Program special services include computer-assisted instruction, a communications resource center, Internet access, a Bridges Lab, and comprehensive assessment and follow-up services through the Families First Assessment Center, ESL classes, and Vocational Placement Services for Internationals. Norrell Services, Inc. and Employment Solutions are the school adopters. A team of administrators, professionals, and para-professional support staff work together to ensure that the students’ academic and social needs are addressed.

Programs

• Adult Basic Education
• Adult High School
• Adult Vocational Programs
• Career and Employment Services
• Carl Perkins Vocational Program Involvement
• Comprehensive Out-of-School Youth Program
• English as a Second Language (ESL)
• Even Start Early Childhood Program
• Families First Adult Education Program (ABE/GED/ESL)
• Families First Adult Vocational Program
• Vocational Services for Internationals
• Workforce Investment Act of 1998 (WIA) Employment and Training Activities for Out-of-School Youth
• WIA In-School Youth Program
  

 The Martin Luther King, Jr. Educational and Cultural Center serves as the project headquarters in providing an array of services for individuals, families, and the community. The Center is designed to provide a coordinated and holistic community-based approach to improve academic achievement, enhance personal growth, and serve as a resource networking facility in addressing the social service needs of inner-city residents in the Memphis community.

Programs

• Adult Basic Education (ABE/GED)
• Families First Adult Education Program (ABE/GED/ESL)
• Computerized Education (Typing and Computer)
• The Elephant Men
• Comprehensive Out-of-School Youth Program
• One Room Drop-In School
• Commodity Card Distribution
• Parent Training Program
• Shelby County Government Homeless Program
• Community Meetings
• Shelby County Headstart Program