And the workforce grant will provide English-as-a-second-language training for those who need it. The grant also will place those students in jobs at employers including Baystate Health and the Springfield Public Schools, said John B. Cook, STCC president.
The grant is part of $7.4 million in Senator Kenneth J. Donnelly Workforce Success Grants announced by state labor Secretary Lauren Jones at STCC on Tuesday. All told, there were 16 grants awarded — including seven incorporating English for speakers of other languages — that will benefit a total of more than 1,100 people.
The 20-year-old grant program also fits, Cook said, with a new federal emphasis on short-term job training. The most recent federal budget included “workforce Pells,” which require as little as 450 hours of instruction to qualify.
Those 450 hours translate to about nine credit hours. In the past, students needed to be in a degree program of at least 20 credits or so to qualify.
“So the federal government is moving towards a greater emphasis on the short-term training and the term being ‘industry-recognized credentials,’” Cook said. “So think even health care — EMTs, nursing assistants — these are shorter-term training but that have a credential attached to them.”
Locally, the Franklin Hampshire Employment and Training Consortium in Greenfield also received $500,000.
That grant will provide training and placement services to 50 unemployed and underemployed participants for roles as patient representatives, receptionists and medical secretaries. They will partner with Community Health Center of Franklin County, Hilltown Community Health Center and Valley Medical Group.
Molly Jacobson, president and CEO of Commonwealth Corp., said the grants focus on training areas in which employers have trouble finding employees. Further, landing those better jobs should help workers secure at least $2.50 more an hour in their new roles.
“But many far exceed that,” she said. “And these are jobs that put them on a ladder. For many, it’s a chance to be a salaried employee for the first time, not hourly. They get benefits.”
Commonwealth Corp. is the quasi-public entity that administers the program.
The city of Worcester/MassHire Central Region Workforce Board received $423,185. Worcester’s plan is to train 40 participants for water and wastewater treatment plant and system operator roles. They will partner with Upper Blackstone Clean Water, Weston & Sampson, the town of Grafton, Uxbridge, and Massachusetts Water Environment Association.
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