WHHA Receives Grant for $1M for Employment Training Services

Department Of Labor Announces $90M in Grants to Support Delivery of Training, Employment Services to Young People For High Demand Careers.

Aligns with Biden-Harris administration's efforts to expand apprenticeships, strengthen workforce.

WASHINGTON - To continue to expand Registered Apprenticeships, prepare young workers for good quality jobs and strengthen the nation's workforce to meet industry demands, the U.S. Department of Labor today announced the award of $90 million in grants to 68 organizations in 32 states to provide training and employment services.

Ranging from $700,000 to $1.5 million each, the awards' announcement follows the department announcement of the availability of YouthBuild grants in November 2022. The grants will support pre-apprenticeships that will educate and train young people, from ages 16 to 24, who are neither enrolled in school nor in the labor market for jobs in high-demand industries. These industries include the construction industry, for which YouthBuild grants will help deliver education and training to enable students to use their abilities to build or rehabilitate affordable housing in their communities for low-income or unhoused families.

"The YouthBuild grants we're announcing today will strengthen the nation's workforce. They will also make sure young people have access to the training and skills they need for good quality jobs, made possible by the historic investments by Biden-Harris' administration to rebuild our nation," explained Acting Assistant Secretary for Employment and Training Brent Parton. "These investments will also help meet the demands of employers in high-demand industries as they seek to expand their workforces."

Administered by the department's Employment and Training Administration, and supported by the Workforce Innovation and Opportunity Act, YouthBuild grants support a pre-apprenticeship model that provides.

Disadvantaged young people with occupational skills training, employment services and educational guidance, with emphasis on green building techniques, including understanding sustainable building materials, solar panel installation, weatherization processes and the use of Energy Star appliances.

YouthBuild participants will divide their time between classroom instruction - where they earn their high school diploma or equivalency degree - and workplace training to prepare for postsecondary opportunities. The grants will also enable young people to train for careers in healthcare, information technology, manufacturing and logistics, culinary arts and hospitality.

In August 2022, the department added the YouthBuild program to the Biden-Harris administration's Justice40 initiative, which aims to ensure that 40 percent of the overall benefits of certain federal investments flow to disadvantaged communities that are overburdened by pollution.

Learn more about the YouthBuild program.

Click here to see the full list of YouthBuild Grant Recipients.