ETA News Release: [January 31, 2005]
Contact Name: Michael Volpe
Phone Number: 202-693-3984 or X4676
U.S. Secretary of Labor Announces $5.8 Million Grant to Promote Expansion of Advanced Manufacturing Program to Six States
Normal, Ill. - U.S. Secretary of Labor Elaine L. Chao today announced a nearly $5.8 million grant to Illinois State University's (ISU) National Center for Integrated Systems Technology to expand training for advanced manufacturing workers from two states to six. Besides current operations in Illinois and Ohio, the program will now be offered in North Carolina, Pennsylvania, Texas and Wyoming.
"As the use of technology steadily increases in production of equipment and other advanced manufacturing processes, training is urgently needed to meet employer demand for skilled workers," said U.S. Secretary of Labor Elaine L. Chao. "The expansion of the Integrated Systems Technology program will help workers across four more states compete and succeed in today's competitive workforce."
Assistant Secretary of Labor for Employment and Training Emily Stover DeRocco was joined by Congressman Jerry Weller to present the award to ISU President Al Bowman and mark the program's expansion. The expansion follows ISU's successful implementation of a $9,236,026 grant awarded as part of the President's High Growth Job Training Initiative.
Since the project began in March 2003, IST graduates have been hired by approximately 186 companies in Illinois and Ohio. The grant will allow additional states to develop new centers at four community colleges that excel in partnering with, and serving the workforce needs of, regional manufacturers. ISU's National Center for Integrated Systems Technology will also expand its training curriculum to create an associate degree program and enhance the highly successful apprenticeship model. Participants in the program learn to work with electrical systems, electronics, hydraulics and pneumatics, piping systems, electronic sensors and basic mechanical devices.
"The President's High Growth Job Training Initiative promotes the replication of successful training models like this one to help prepare individuals for careers in growing industries that provide good opportunities," said Assistant Secretary of Labor DeRocco. "The advanced manufacturing industry and its expanding technologies offer a great future to workers equipped and trained for 21st century technologies and processes."
Through the President's High Growth Job Training Initiative, the Department of Labor has been conducting executive forums with leaders of expanding industries to identify critical workforce gaps and issues. Solutions, like the program being funded at ISU, are then created in cooperation with employers, educational institutions and the public workforce system. For more information, visit www.doleta.gov/BRG/JobTrainInitiative/.
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