ETA News Release: [December 9, 2004]
Contact Name: Lorette Post
Phone Number: 202-693-3984 or X4676
National Head of Employment and Training Joins Central Piedmont Community College at the Kick-Off of its Geospatial Project
U.S. Labor Department Awarded $2 Million Last Month under the
President's High Growth Job Training Initiative
CHARLOTTE, N.C. -- Assistant Secretary of Labor for Employment and Training Emily Stover DeRocco was at Central Piedmont Community College in Charlotte today for its kick-off of a geospatial project under the President's High Growth Job Training Initiative. Funding for the project comes from a $2 million grant to the Institute for GIS Studies (IGISS) announced last month by Secretary of Labor Elaine L. Chao.
"Geospatial technology is so new that the curriculum to train workers is still being devised and many applications are still in the development stage," said Secretary of Labor Chao. "This grant will begin to answer those challenges by developing a curriculum and career ladder to train workers with the skills needed to find jobs and advance in this cutting edge sector of the economy."
With the grant, IGISS will establish two geospatial business hubs - one at Central Piedmont in Charlotte and a second one in Nashville, Tenn. The hubs will provide 425 unemployed and underemployed North Carolina and Tennessee workers with apprenticeship training, internships and on-the-job training in geospatial technology applications for utilities and land management services.
"The future geospatial job market will demand about 75,000 skilled GIS workers a year," said Assistant Secretary of Labor for Employment and Training Emily Stover DeRocco. "Grants like this one will ensure a pipeline of highly-skilled workers ready to advance in challenging careers and, at the same time, will position geospatial businesses to thrive in a highly competitive 21st century economy."
Key business and education partners will make contributions worth nearly $4.4 million in support of the IGISS project.
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 Central Piedmont, 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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