Since 2021, the U.S. Department of Labor has been offering grants through the Community College Training Grant Enhancement Program to boost job training at community colleges and help students find good jobs in high-demand industries, such as advanced manufacturing, clean energy, semiconductors and biotechnology. The department added $65 million to the program last week.
As explained in a news release, the program is currently in its fifth application phase and has already awarded $200 million to 170 universities in 31 states. The program targets multiple sectors that are facing increased demand due to technological advancements, or are recovering from workforce losses during the pandemic, or both. According to the U.S. Chamber of Commerce website, approximately 1.4 million manufacturing jobs were lost during the pandemic. According to the September 2023 issue of biotechnology trade publication Labiotech, there are 60,000 job openings in the biopharmaceutical sector alone.
“The Community College Training Enhancement Grant reflects the Department of Labor’s strategy to invest in key sectors, its commitment to community colleges across the country, and its ongoing commitment to supporting workers, their families, and employers, especially in underserved areas,” Under Secretary for Employment and Training Jose Rodriguez said in an official statement.
The application period opened on July 18 and is scheduled to close in late September, with priority given to applicants who have aligned their education programs with specific infrastructure sectors, such as clean energy, semiconductors, and biotechnology. According to the program’s website, the funds will be split into periods. First, $55 million will be distributed as grants of up to $1.75 million to individual institutions and up to $5.75 million to collaborating agency groups. After feasibility studies, the department will select a subset of projects for impact studies and distribute the remaining $10 million grants to them. These new investments by the Department of Labor are the latest in several investments by the Biden-Harris Administration to support high-demand technology industries, including the Tech Hubs program, which has formally designated dozens of regional innovation centers as nationally recognized technology hubs eligible for grants of $40 million to $70 million.
