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STEVEN ENGELHARDT (314) 504-4029

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE:  Wednesday, 9.21.11

Clay Announces $1.7 Million Commerce Department Grant to Expand

Metropolitan Education and Training Center

Economic Development Administration Invests to Spur Job Creation in St. Louis Region

Washington, DC – Congressman Wm. Lacy Clay (D) Missouri announced today that the U.S. Department of Commerce has awarded a $1.7 million grant to expand the Metropolitan Education and Training Center in Wellston. The center, located at the former Wagner Electric Plant in Wellston, Missouri, is one of the nation’s leading centers for green job training and has established the acclaimed “Pathways Out of Poverty” program that is training and re-trained unemployed workers for 21^st Century jobs.

“This is a real boost to the MET Center’s ongoing mission of job training that our community urgently needs,” said the Congressman.  “The $1.795 million investment by the Commerce Department’s Economic Development Authority will allow the MET Center to expand classrooms and install a new wet lab to support job training in life sciences and biotechnology…two of the St. Louis region’s most vital economic growth sectors.”

The grant application was submitted by St. Louis County’s Land Clearance for Redevelopment Authority.  The MET Center is a one-stop, comprehensive workforce development initiative that serves unemployed and underemployed individuals in the greater St. Louis region.

EDA grants are awarded through a competitive process based upon the application’s merit, the applicant’s eligibility, and the availability of funds.
This investment was approved by John R. Fernandez, Assistant Secretary of Commerce for Economic Development.