ETA News Release: [December 20, 2004]
Contact Name: Mike Volpe
Phone Number: 202-693-3984
U.S. Secretary of Labor Elaine L. Chao Announces $1.9 Million Grant to Train Southeast Virginia Workers for Manufacturing Careers
Grant is Part of $24.2 Million Advanced Manufacturing Training Initiative
HAMPTON, Va. -- U.S. Secretary of Labor Elaine L. Chao today announced a grant of $1,965,000 to recruit and train Virginia workers for career opportunities in manufacturing industries. The grant to the Greater Peninsula Workforce Investment Board is part of a $24.2 million advanced manufacturing training effort under which helps workers prepare for and find jobs in America's fastest growing industries. Deputy Assistant Secretary for Employment and Training Mason M. Bishop was on hand in Hampton to present the award.
"As the manufacturing industry continues to evolve, skilled workers are needed to ensure that American manufacturers remain the most innovative and productive in the world," said U.S. Secretary of Labor Elaine L. Chao. This grant, which is part of the President's High Growth Job Training Initiative, will help thousands of Virginians gain new skills in advanced manufacturing and introduce new workers to rewarding 21st Century careers."
The Greater Peninsula Workforce Investment Board and its primary partner, Thomas Nelson Community College, will use the grant to recruit and train more than 5,000 new, transitioning and incumbent workers for advanced manufacturing jobs in Southeast Virginia. Education and training curricula will be created for more than 30 advanced manufacturing jobs, and a "Career Switcher" program will certify industry retirees as technical instructors. New workers will be recruited through manufacturing career fairs for community college, regional technical high school and public school students.
"As the manufacturing sector continues to innovate and a large contingent of the current workforce retires, Virginia's Greater Peninsula area will require a pipeline of qualified advanced manufacturing workers," said Deputy Assistant Secretary of Labor for Employment and Training Mason M. Bishop. "This grant of more than $1.9 million will provide state-of-the-art, industry-driven training to meet the local manufacturing industry's emerging and evolving workforce needs."
Key partners in this project include: Thomas Nelson Community College, Northrop Grumman Newport News, Siemens VDO, Howmet Castings, Canon Virginia, Allied Aerospace, Ball Corp., Anheuser-Busch, Peninsula Alliance for Economic Development and the Virginia Employment Commission.
The President's High Growth Job Training Initiative is a strategic effort to better prepare workers to take advantage of new job opportunities in high growth sectors of the American economy. Through executive forums with leaders of expanding industries, critical workforce gaps and issues are identified. Solutions 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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