Sunday, August 9, 2009
Day 2 – Building Iowa’s Economic Future
Today I met Labor Secretary Hilda Solis at the Ottumwa Industrial Airport for the groundbreaking of the new Job Corps Center. The Center, which is scheduled to open in 2011, will partner with Indian Hills Community College to provide academic and vocational training to economically disadvantaged youths. It is only the second facility of its kind in Iowa, and comes at a critical time with the economy shedding another 247,000 jobs nationwide in July.
Secretary Solis said projects like Job Corps will put people back to work – particularly the middle class – with training for jobs in the health, information technology and renewable energy fields to name just a few.
The Center is a direct product of the Economic Recovery Package that passed Congress earlier this year. More than $23 million in Recovery Act funding has been awarded to a local firm to lead construction of the new facility.
Secretary Solis also used the event to announce a National Emergency Grant (NEG) of $521,910 to Iowa Workforce Development that is being awarded to Iowa and Minnesota to provide employment-related services to dislocated workers affected by layoffs at the Featherlite, Inc., manufacturing facility in Cresco.
