News Release
ETA News Release: [Dec. 31, 2003]
Contact Name: Lorette Post
Phone Number: 202-693-3984
Labor Department Awards $2 Million to Textron for
High-Tech Training
FORT WORTH -- The U.S. Department of Labor's Employment and Training Administration has awarded $2 million to Fort Worth, Texas-based Textron to train about 800 workers in the areas of information technology and computer science.
"This Administration is committed to helping workers get the training they need to get good paying jobs," said U.S. Secretary of Labor Elaine L. Chao. "This $2 million grant will be used to upgrade the skills of workers."
Training courses were selected based on the specific IT needs of each partnering employer and will be conducted at 122 sites in as many as 26 states. The three main areas of training will be in systems and network administration, software and web development, and database administration.
Individual participants will be selected through previous performance evaluations, pre-training education levels, pre-existing employee training plans, IT customer needs and requirements, and probability of successful training completion.
Partnering employers have committed to $2.34 million in in-kind contributions in the form of trainee wages paid during the project. Partnering employers have also committed to using their local One Stop Career Centers to help fill positions left vacant through promotion of trainees involved in the project.
"This grant illustrates the kind of workforce development partnerships we are encouraging to address the challenges facing 21st century businesses," said Emily Stover DeRocco, assistant secretary of labor for employment and training. "When businesses identify the skills their workforce needs, educators and our public workforce system can be key players in preparing workers for the highly skilled jobs in high-demand fields."
This grant and others totaling approximately $49 million were awarded competitively to business-led partnerships nationwide to train workers for high-skill, high-tech occupations.
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