Eastern Gateway wins $2.5M grant for worker training, business partnerships
Staff report
WASHINGTON
Eastern Gateway Community College has been awarded a $2.5 million federal grant to train students with marketable career skills and then connect them with businesses looking for trained workers.
Vice President Joe Biden, Labor Secretary Thomas E. Perez and Education Secretary Arne Duncan today jointly announced the winners of $450 million in job-driven training grants to EGCC and 269 other community colleges across the country.
The funding is part of the Trade Adjustment Assistance Community College and CareerTraining competitive grant program, which is co-administered by the Department of Labor and Department of Education.
The grants will provide community colleges and other eligible institutions of higher education with funds to partner with employers. The funds will help to expand and improve colleges’ ability to deliver education and career training programs that will help job seekers get the skills they need for in-demand jobs in industries such as information technology, health care, energy, and advanced manufacturing, Biden said.
EGCC is one of only five community colleges in Ohio to win the awards. Others are located in Springfield, Elyria, Cincinnati and Archbold.
EGCC’s main campus is in Steubenville; it has a growing network of branch sites in Youngstown and the Mahoning Valley.
“We must continue to invest in these types of partnerships, which successfully train American workers,” Biden said, adding, “That’s why the president’s 2015 budget proposes a $6 billion
Community College Job-Driven Training Fund to ensure that we are sufficiently investing in partnerships between our nation’s community colleges and employers.”