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ETA News Release: [05/19/2004]
Contact Name: Lorette
Post
Phone Number: (202) 693-3984
U.S. Labor Secretary Elaine L. Chao Announces $1.5
Million Grant for English Proficiency and Job Training for Hispanic
Workers
Additional
Funding is Part of President’s National Hispanic Worker
Initiative
WASHINGTON—U.S.
Secretary of Labor Elaine L. Chao today announced a grant of $1.5 million to
aid unemployed Hispanic youth and adults in the Baltimore area. The grant is
the third in the Labor Department’s National Hispanic Worker Initiative, announced earlier this
year.
“The National Hispanic Worker Initiative
will help our country’s Hispanic workers prepare for and find good-paying
jobs in high growth sectors,” said Labor Secretary Chao. “Every
worker should have the tools to find a good job with a career pathway. This
$1.5 million grant will provide Hispanic youth and adults access to the
training and resources needed to compete equitably in today’s
workforce.”
The grant marks the second year of funding for the Digital Learning
Group (DLG). Known as Words for Work,
DLG’s program will use multimedia instruction to provide
occupation-specific English language and related workplace skills training for
health care and construction industry employment. Approximately 225 unemployed
Hispanic adults and Hispanic youth over 16 years old in the Baltimore
metropolitan area will benefit from the training.
“Hispanic workers face unique employment challenges, not the least
of which is a language barrier,” said Assistant Secretary of Labor for
Employment and Training Emily Stover DeRocco. “This grant will put the
collaborative weight of business, the community college sector and the public
workforce system behind an effort to equip Hispanic workers with language and
occupational skills to qualify for good jobs in expanding industries.”
DLG is partnering with Anne Arundel Community College, the
Governor’s Workforce Investment Board of Maryland, a consortium of
faith-based organizations and the Maryland Hospital Association. The Department
of Labor’s Employment and Training Administration provided $1.3 million to
the program in June 2003. The project funded by the grant will serve as a model
for addressing similar employment barriers faced by Asian-Americans, Pacific
Islanders and other minority groups around the country.
The Hispanic Worker Initiative is part
of a larger effort to link the resources of the $15 billion public workforce
system to jobs in demand. Currently, the Labor Department’s Employment and
Training Administration is funding unique, industry-driven demonstration
projects through the President’s High Growth Job Training Initiative.
These include Hispanic workers in their overall service strategy. The
department will continue to explore more innovative projects throughout the
year that address the identified workforce challenges of Hispanic
Americans.
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