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McConnell: EKCEP Receives $2.7 Million Federal Job Training Grant

Press Release

Date: Aug. 24, 2016
Location: Washington, DC
Issues: Government Budget and Spending Business, Consumers, and Employees

U.S. Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell announced today that the Eastern Kentucky Concentrated Employment Program (EKCEP) in Hazard, Kentucky, has received a $2.75 million competitive grant to provide training for out of work youth and unemployed adults to help them enter the workforce. The grant was awarded by the Appalachian Regional Commission for EKCEP's TechHire Eastern Kentucky (TEKY) Initiative: Developing a Technology-Driven Workforce project.

The federal grant will enable EKCEP to provide accelerated, industry-led technology training for hundreds of youth and adults seeking jobs who have demonstrated technology talent but currently lack information technology job opportunities.

"The funding will be used by EKCEP to provide training and employment services to constituents in 23 counties in Eastern Kentucky, including the eight Kentucky counties designated as a Promise Zone due to high poverty rates. Officials with EKCEP have told me this training will provide new technology opportunities in a region in need of economic innovation," Senator McConnell said.

"The POWER funding awarded to EKCEP is an investment in the promise that a new IT sector can bring to Eastern Kentucky. It is much-needed, critical fuel for the TechHire Eastern Kentucky initiative. We are very appreciative of Senator McConnell's efforts and thank him for his past and ongoing support as EKCEP works to develop new job and training opportunities for the people of Eastern Kentucky," said Jeff Whitehead, Executive Director of EKCEP.

In 2015, Senator McConnell worked to secure a $7.5 million federal grant from the DOL for EKCEP to continue its services to assist individuals who lost their jobs as result of the decline in the coal industry. Senator McConnell wrote a letter to U.S. Secretary of Labor Thomas Perez in support of EKCEP's efforts. Also, in 2013, Senator McConnell helped EKCEP secure a nearly $5.2 million competitive federal grant for the same program.


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