Energy Sector Partnership grants announced.
Department of Labor awards nearly $190 million in State Energy Sector Partnership grants
On January 20, the U.S. Department of Labor’s Employment and Training Administration (DOLETA) announced 34 grants, totaling nearly $190 million, under the State Energy Sector Partnership and Training grant program. The grants will go to partnerships led by state Workforce Investment Boards (SWIBs) to provide training and related activities that support comprehensive statewide energy sector strategies, including the development of career pathways for low-skill, low-income workers. A full description of the Energy Sector Partnership program, along with description of grantee programs, may be found here.
These grants represent the fifth and final set of “green job” workforce development grants established under the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act. Earlier this month, DOLETA announced nearly $150 million in Pathways Out of Poverty grants for national and local nonprofit organizations to provide green jobs training for at-risk populations, and $100 million in Energy Training Partnership grants for training programs operated by national labor-management partnerships and state and local nonprofit partnerships. An additional $55 million was awarded in November 2009 to support the development of state labor market information systems and to expand green job training capacity at current DOL grantees.
In addition to the $500 million in green jobs grants, DOLETA is also scheduled to award $220 million in Recovery Act funds later this year to support training in health care and other high-growth or emerging industries. Read National Skills Coalition’s summary of these grants in our July Washington Update.
The Jobs for Main Street Act of 2010 (H.R. 2847) passed by the House of Representatives in December included an additional $750 million for competitive grants for training and placement of workers in high-growth and emerging sectors. Of that total, $275 million would be for careers in energy efficiency and renewable energy as described in the Green Jobs Act, of which $225 million must be for additional Pathways out of Poverty grants. Priority for the remaining $475 million must be given to projects in the health care sector. The Senate is expected to consider job creation legislation after completing work on the health care reform bill in late January or early February, although it is still unclear what form that legislation will take. National Skills Coalition will continue to monitor this situation and provide updates to the workforce development field as information becomes available.
