As described in a news release, the program is now in its fifth round of applications, building upon $200 million already given out to 170 colleges across 31 states. The program targets several areas that are either seeing increased demand from technological advancements, trying to recover from staffing losses during the pandemic, or both. According to the U.S. Chamber of Commerce website, the manufacturing industry lost roughly 1.4 million jobs during the onset of the pandemic. In the biopharma sector alone, according to the biotech trade publication Labiotech in September 2023, there are 60,000 job vacancies.
“The Strengthening Community Colleges Training Grants reflect the Department of Labor’s strategy of investing in critical sectors, our commitment to community colleges nationwide and ongoing dedication to supporting workers, their families and their employers, particularly in underserved communities,” Assistant Secretary for Employment and Training José Rodríguez said in a public statement.
The application period opened July 18 and is set to close in late September, with priority going to applicants that align their educational programs with specific infrastructure sectors such as clean energy, semiconductors and biotechnology. The funding will be split up into time periods, according to the program website. First, $55 million will be parceled out in grants of up to $1.75 million for individual institutions and up to $5.75 million for collaborating groups of institutions. After a feasibility study, the department will select a subset of the projects for impact studies and distribute the remaining $10 million in grant funding among them.
