Governor Earl Ray Tomblin and Congressman Nick Rahall announced on September 29 three West Virginia community and technical colleges will receive more than $9 million in grant funding to help connect students with employers and support new and current workforce training programs, part of a nationwide effort to assist military men and women and veterans.
“West Virginia’s military members and veterans have made significant contributions to our state’s enduring legacy of service and this funding gives us the opportunity to create new educational pathways to prepare them with the job-ready skills they need to join our workforce when they return home,” Gov. Tomblin said. “Through the Heroes for Hire program, our community and technical colleges are giving our military men and women the ability to earn college credit while serving our country and establish additional ways for active military personnel to earn college credit while still serving in line of active duty. This outreach effort is a great opportunity to train our residents to meet the needs of employers in West Virginia.”
The grant, part of the U.S. Department of Labor’s Trade Adjustment Assistance (TAA) Community College and Career Training initiative, will be used to expand opportunities available through West Virginia’s community and technical college system by providing workforce training programs in partnership with local employers specifically in the health care and manufacturing industries, with particular emphasis on hiring veterans.
“The future of our State is in no small way pegged upon the ability of our workforce to fill cutting-edge jobs in the fields that are emerging and expanding. That is why I fight so hard to support educational programs for our young people, and why I pressed to secure this very important federal grant,” said Rahall. “This funding will help to retrain workers for jobs in fields that are growing right here in our own backyard – our growing health care sector, our rapidly expanding natural gas industry, and all of the promising spinoff enterprises. We need more such investment in the good, hard-working, honest, earnest West Virginia workforce, and I am going to keep right on fighting, tooth-and-nail, to help West Virginians build careers and a better future right here at home.”
Mountwest Community and Technical College, rated by Military Times as the #1 military-friendly two-year college and community college in the country for 2013 and 2014, will lead the initiative in collaboration with Blue Ridge Community and Technical College in Martinsburg and Southern West Virginia Community and Technical College in Shamrock.
The total grant amount of $9,461,288 will be used to develop a variety of programming including:
- hiring or training new instructors to offer in-demand courses and certifications,
- developing online learning to accelerate skills attainment,
- developing new curricula and training models to provide new certification programs,
- purchasing new equipment to ensure students train on what employers use, and
- working with local employers to design new programs based on their workforce needs.
“Providing a skilled workforce is the major focus of the community and technical system of West Virginia,” said Chancellor James L. Skidmore. “This grant will assist the Consortium colleges in preparing veterans for high-skill, high-wage jobs leading to careers in a number of fields important to our State’s economy.”
“We are grateful and proud to have this opportunity to develop educational programs and services for our veterans and citizens of West Virginia,” said Dr. Keith J. Cotroneo, President of Mountwest Community & Technical College. “The three colleges involved in this grant-Southern, Blue Ridge and Mountwest-have a deep commitment to serving veterans. We are so pleased that the Department of Labor has recognized our joint commitment through this grant award.”
“The $9.4 million in investments in West Virginia announced today will help prepare local workers with the skills needed for in-demand careers and advance the role of community colleges as engines of economic growth,” said U.S. Secretary of Labor Thomas E. Perez. “Over the last four years, the U.S. Department of Labor has invested more than $43 million in West Virginia, part of a long-term commitment to ensure workers have access to training for the specific skills employers need to stay competitive in the global economy.”
