State lawmakers on both sides of the aisle are praising a new multimillion dollar center.

And Louisville Goodwill West Louisville Opportunity Center opened in March and has already provided free services to more than 1000 people.

Senate President Robert Stivers, a Republican and Senate minority leader Gerald Neal, a Democrat, toward the facility Thursday.

Both say the Kentucky General Assembly's $3 million investment in the center is paying off.

We've met a lot of people in West Louisville here who are living in poverty and don't have a lot of choices in their lives that who are highly motivated for something better.

And we knew that would be the case before we came here, because we have these centers not as big as this one, but we have these centers and eight other communities, and we see that over and over.

People who are stuck in circumstances they don't want to be on.

And one, I just get a sense that something else is possible for them, are willing to run through brick walls to build a new life.

And so we have seen that here in West Louisville, just as we've seen it in other communities.

And I good Well, we are all about opening up pathways to allow people into that new life.

I would drive by this site over and over again and would wonder, I wonder what would happen if I wonder what would happen if then out of the blue I thought I made it and all of a sudden this thing started popping up and it brought all the capacity here.

And as you know, it reverberates throughout the area.

A small concentration of services and economic capacity that did not exist.

And there's more yet to come.

You know, if you change a person's outlook, you give them hope by knowing that they can have a different economic trajectory, that they will have a good job, good health care, the potential to go on vacation, to go to those family reunions, know when they get 65 or 66 that they can retire.

You give them that hope, that opportunity to hit that economic trajectory.

Then you also see a difference in your community.

You're not going to see as we age, you're not going to see as much time.

It is our challenge.

Every day that we sell, we push.

We encourage hope to those who come through the door.

It's hope that we do for those 1020 people that we've already brought in as new clients, that this location and it's still growing.

Hope is what we do when we talk about the almost 43,000 total services that we've provided on all the partners that have provided services at this location and still growing.

Hope is what we provide to the homeless and those who have barriers and so that we can reduce those barriers to not just get a job but to be successful in a career.

And so there are two things that we try to give people when they come here.

One of those things is we want to have as many different services and resources as possible for you to take advantage of, to get answers to those things that have held you back.

And if we don't have it, we're going to go find it for you.

Because the second thing that people get when they come here and our end to our other opportunity centers is they get somebody who's going to be in their corner.

They get somebody who cares about whether they succeed or not.

We think that having answers and having a support system is the thing that allows people to hope.

And hope is the thing that allows them to have the motivation that they're going to need to work hard for that new life.

The 125,000 square foot resource center cost $50 million and is the largest mission related investment in Goodwill's 100 year history.