YUMA, Ariz. (KYMA, KECY) – The University of Arizona Yuma Cooperative Extension will undergo an expansion worth $5.5 million.

The university's Cooperative Extension currently shares a building with the Yuma County Public Health Services District, but thanks to new funding, that will no longer be the case.

“We operate separately in some ways, but we have one centralized location, the Ag Center, that allows us to provide all of our services in one place,” said Russell Engel, director of the Yuma County Cooperative Extension.

The Yuma County Board of Supervisors has approved funding for a local college system.

The funds will be used to build a new courthouse for use by the U of A in Yuma.

Board supervisors will state why it is important to support local organizations.

“The programs that they do at Yuma, the 4-H programs, the children's programs, the outreach programs, the research that they do for agriculture in the county, we think that's important enough that we want to have a facility where they can work,” said Tony Reyes, a member of the Yuma County Board of Supervisors.

Engel also talks about how so many opportunities are available to students who want to participate in the program.

“We call this the Silicon Valley of agriculture. Agriculture is very thriving here and there are a lot of opportunities for future employment, education and training,” Engel said.

The project is still in the early stages, with blueprints and construction yet to begin.

But construction could begin sometime next year, according to the Yuma County Board of Supervisors.