Murray Applauds Major Investment to Train WA Students for 21st Century Jobs

Press Release

Today, U.S. Senator Patty Murray (D-WA) applauded the announcement by the U.S Department of Labor that Washington state community colleges will receive nearly $12.5 million in the latest round of the Trade Adjustment Assistance Community College and Career Training (TAACCCT) initiative. These investments will help expand the capacity of Washington state community colleges to provide innovative training programs in partnership with local employers

"When community colleges have the resources they need to partner with local employers and train their students to fill local jobs, the whole community reaps the benefits," said Senator Patty Murray. "This is a strong investment that will help more Washington state students earn a ticket to the middle class through training programs that are directly connected to local businesses and growing local industries."

"Centralia College is pleased and proud to be a recipient of the TAACCCT round four grant led by Washington's Centers of Excellence for Clean Energy, Aerospace and Advanced Manufacturing, and Construction," said Barbara Hins-Turner, Executive Director of the Center of Excellence for Clean Energy (A Centralia College Partnership and WISE lead). "The Washington Integrated Sector Employment (WISE) project represents a statewide collaboration that will serve 1,992 adults and includes eight community and technical colleges, five workforce investment boards, the state's TAA coordinating agency, the Washington State Labor Council and more than a dozen major employers."

The Washington state investments are among $450 million in grants to community colleges around the country in the final round of the four-year, nearly $2 billion Trade Adjustment Assistance Community College and Career Training initiative. During the four years of this competition more than 250 grants have been awarded funding programs at 1,060 colleges.

The funding was included in the 2010 Health Care and Education Reconciliation Act, which Senator Murray voted for. It will build on the stronger workforce system and local workforce boards that Murray fought for in her bipartisan workforce investment bill that was signed into law in July of this year. Senator Murray wrote letters of support to the Department of Labor urging them to strongly consider these Washington state grant applications.

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