Union County, NJ – Union County residents will benefit from a new green jobs training program funded by a grant of $4,9993,922 from the U.S. Department of Labor, under the Obama administration’s American Recovery and Reinvestment Act. The Union County Workforce Investment Board will be responsible for distributing New Jersey’s share of the grant among Union County and five other counties.
Two other states will also share in the grant, Massachusetts and California.
“Union County is full of hard working citizens who are eager to develop new career skills,” said Union County Freeholder Chairman Daniel P. Sullivan. “This is a significant federal grant that will help connect our residents with many new opportunities to achieve a more secure place in a challenging economy.”
The new job training programs are focused on emerging green fields that show a strong demand for workers. The program is tailored to different regions in the U.S. In New Jersey, the target careers include power service technician, water conservationist, utility worker (gas), and customer service.
The grant of $4,993,992 was one of the biggest grants out of 25 that were awarded nationwide in the Energy Training Partnership Grants program. The grant amounts ranged from $1.4 million to $5 million.
“I would like to thank the Workforce Investment Board and its partners for working diligently together throughout the years,” said Sullivan. “They’ve established a solid track record that helped Union County compete successfully not only to share in one of the top awards, but also to lead in the development of training programs that put these federal dollars to work for County residents.”
In officially announcing the awards, U.S. Secretary of Labor Hilda L. Solis noted that the “outstanding award recipients were selected because their proposed projects will connect workers to career pathways in green industries and occupations through critical, diverse partnerships.”
The Union County Workforce Investment Board teamed with the Utilities Workers Union of America, AFL-CIO, along with Elizabethtown Gas, PSE&G, United Water, and American Water to apply for the grant.
The new training programs will focus on skills relating to the changing nature of utility work, which is trending toward energy efficiency, conservation, and renewable energy projects. The fields were selected based on projections by utility companies regarding anticipated openings for workers in the coming years.
The programs will serve dislocated workers and older youths, as well as under-employed or disadvantaged adults, or those at risk of losing work. The training is a comprehensive undertaking, one key part of which is a pre-apprenticeship program that provides participants with credentialed skills that are recognized by employers.
So far Union County has been awarded more than $23 million in grants for infrastructure improvement and other job-creating programs under the 2009 American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (ARRA). |
