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MILWAUKEE - The government is launching a
$7 million grant program to help kick-start training to prepare laid
off autoworkers and other unemployed people for a second career,
Education Secretary Arne Duncan said.
"This is a real opportunity for us
to help out and give adults a chance to get back on their feet, remove
the financial barriers and help them get the educational help to
enable them to reinvent themselves and get back out there in the job
market," Duncan told The Associated Press Wednesday night. He
planned to make the formal announcement Thursday.
The grants will provide initial funds
for community colleges and other organizations that help adults
develop skills they need for new careers.
The programs can provide services like
tutoring, academic and career counseling or could do things like
remove financial constraints for adults returning to school by taking
care of child care, transportation or textbook costs.
Duncan said for community colleges or
other educational groups to secure a grant, they'll have to show the
ability to work collaboratively and establish programs that will last
after the grant expires.
"We want to see folks coming
together with concrete plans that are going to help folks who have
been impacted by job losses," the education secretary said.
"Whether it's new emerging industries like renewable energy,
health care, high tech, green jobs, there's a chance for folks who are
producing that (to) help train people with the skills necessary to get
real jobs."
Duncan said he picked Milwaukee Area
Technical College to make his announcement because of the work the
school has done with students there.
Several cabinet secretaries and other
Obama administration officials are traveling across the Midwest this
week to visit communities affected by layoffs in the automotive
industry.
"Help is on the way," Duncan
said. "We just want to work with those communities, those
partners, those institutions that both have a real heart for this, but
also are being really smart and strategic about making sure folks are
getting the training they need to be successful."
In Wisconsin, General Motors shuttered
an SUV plant in Janesville but may consider building a line of small
cars there in the future. In Kenosha, a Chrysler LLC engine plant is
due to close at the end of next year, leaving 800 workers without
jobs.
Unemployment in Wisconsin hit 9.4
percent in March, the highest in 26 years. It was 8.8 percent in
April.
"This is not exclusive to
autoworkers, but that's a population we're very, very concerned
about," Duncan said. "There's been a lot of ripple effects,
people working building the parts, the supply chain, dealerships.
There's been lots of folks who have been hit very, very hard."
Wisconsin Gov. Jim Doyle, Manpower
chief executive Jeffrey Joerres and MATC acting president Vicki Martin
planned to join Duncan at Thursday morning's announcement before
heading to a Milwaukee high school for an afternoon event.
According to Manpower, the three
toughest jobs for U.S. employers to fill this year include engineers,
nurses and skilled or manual trade laborers. But most of the top 10
industries are within reach of community college graduates, and Duncan
said community colleges are a gem that have been an undervalued
resource.
"Community colleges are going to
be absolutely vital," Duncan said. "They have a big, big
role to play in helping individuals as well as the country."
The Education Department will take
applications immediately and plans to award 28 grants by mid
September.
"We feel a sense of urgency,"
Duncan said. "We want to turn this around absolutely as quickly
as we possibly can."
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