Fed Money for PA Job Training

Adapted from a press release:

The U.S. Department of Labor today announced grants totaling $154,757,547 awarded to 32 states, Puerto Rico and the Cherokee tribal nation through the Job-Driven National Emergency Grant program. The funding will be used to train workers who lost a job through no fault of their own for jobs in high-demand industries.

The funding announced today will help create or expand employer partnerships that provide opportunities for on-the-job training, Registered Apprenticeships or other occupational training that result in an industry-recognized credential. Funding will also be used to provide services, such as career coaching and counseling, as well as assisting with job placement that help connect laid-off workers, including the long-term unemployed, with available jobs.

In addition to expanding work-based learning strategies – which recent studies show increase employment and earnings outcomes – grantees are also expected to develop strong partnerships between workforce and industry organizations and align services with other federal, state or local programs and agencies, such as Unemployment Insurance, Trade Adjustment Assistance, Temporary Assistance for Needy Families and economic development agencies.

The department awarded additional funding of up to $175,000 to all of the grantees. This additional funding will enable these applicants to undertake activities in one or more of the following areas to better serve dislocated workers under this grant program, and  federal job training programs in general:

• Increasing consumer access to training outcomes and information
• Developing more effective electronic employment tools
• Expanding employer engagement, and
• Enhancing customer and employer satisfaction

The grantees have committed to documenting their experiences under the Job-Driven National Emergency Grant program and identify and share promising practices and lessons learned with the workforce system.   

Funding for the grants was made available through the Workforce Investment Act Dislocated Worker National Reservefund.

Pennsylvania will receive $6,175,000