Community Colleges Receive Grant to Improve Work Environment

Community Colleges Receive Grant to Improve Work Environment – Looking to Upgrade Your Welding Lab? Clean Air America’s WeldStation 5 is the solution.

The Obama Administration recently awarded $500M in grants to Community Colleges for job training and workforce development. This is the first installment of a $2B, four-year investment to provide funds for improving the training of such things as welding, etc.

These federal grants will enable community colleges, employers and other partners to prepare job candidates, through innovative programs, for new careers in high-wage, high-skills fields, including advanced manufacturing, transportation, welding, and blasting occupations.

The initial round of community college and career training funds is being awarded to 32 grantees across the US.

"The president knows that building a well-educated workforce is critical to reviving and strengthening the American economy," said Secretary of Education Arne Duncan. "These grants will help community colleges and businesses work together to give students the skills they need to compete for good jobs in growing industries. The grants announced by the departments of Labor and Education today are another clear demonstration of the Obama-Biden administration's commitment to our community colleges and their vital role in fueling the American economy.”

Every state will receive at least $2.5M for community college career training programs through this initiative. The grants will go toward building instructional programs that meet specific industry needs, strengthening technology-enabled learning, and allowing students and workers to access free learning materials online.

Clean Air America has installed their Clean Air WeldStation 5 in hundreds of community colleges to help students learn the fine art of welding and better prepare them for a job as a welder. The Clean Air WeldStation 5 eliminates smoke and grinding dust from the welding lab. The Weldstation 5 is a one piece, self contained welding work center. Measuring just 60" wide, 39" deep and 120" high. WeldStation 5 is designed to fit into almost any space.

Through these grants, schools will be able to expand their capacity to put more people into high-quality jobs and start new careers in fields ranging from advanced manufacturing and transportation to health care and STEM – science, technology, engineering and math.

The program also is designed to have a lasting impact on higher education, emphasizing the use of evidence in program design, collection of student outcome data and conducting evaluations to build knowledge about which strategies are most effective in placing graduates in jobs. These investments, combined with the president's proposals in the American Jobs Act, will help individuals to receive the skills they need to work in high-demand sectors and provide additional pathways back to work for the unemployed.