$220 Million in New Training Grants Available for Health Care and High Growth Industries

The Department of Labor has announced it is accepting grant applications to provide more than $220 million in training, education and job placement assistance for workers seeking jobs in health care and other high growth and emerging industries. The deadline for applications is October 5, 2009. 

The Department defines high growth and emerging industries—in addition to healthcare—as fields such as:

• information technology,
• advanced manufacturing,
• wireless and broadband deployment,
• transportation and warehousing, and
• biotechnology.

The solicitation directs applicants to define local high growth or emerging industries in terms of their impact on the state or regional economy. Click here for the DOL notice.

U.S. Labor Secretary Hilda Solis announced the new grant solicitation on July 21, 2009, saying that health care services would be one of the fastest-growing career fields over the next decade as the population ages.

Individuals eligible to receive training include unemployed workers, dislocated workers, and incumbent workers.

Up to $25 million of the total funding will be targeted to communities hit hardest by restructuring in the auto industry. The DOL has identified 312 counties in 31 states affected by the auto crisis. For details, go to: autocrisis

The AFL-CIO Working for America Institute will be scheduling one or more webinars to describe this solicitation in more detail. Please let Katrina Dizon at kdizon@workingforamerica.org know if you would be interested in participating in a webinar on the Healthcare and High Growth Industries DOL solicitation.