A CompTIA report strongly recommends businesses tap into the government's $240 million in grants for job training programs.
CompTIA,
a non-profit association for the IT industry, is encouraging its membership and
the broader high-tech industry to aggressively seek their share of $240 million
in newly launched federal grants available for job training programs.
U.S.
Secretary of Labor Hilda Solis on Monday announced the availability of
approximately $240 million through the H-1B Technical Skills Training Grants
program competition. Grants will be awarded to help workers update current job
skills or acquire new skills so they can enter career pathways that lead to
higher-paying jobs, including positions in information technology. The
Department of Labor expects to fund 75 to 100 grants.
The
Department of Labor will conduct a Webinar today to share information about the
H-1B Technical Skills Training Grants program. Jane Oates, assistant secretary
of the employment and training administration for the Department of Labor, will
highlight occupations and sectors and discuss the importance of growing
America's skilled workforce.
"CompTIA
is very pleased to hear that the Department of Labor will fund up to 100 grants
for workforce development," said Todd Thibodeaux, president and CEO of CompTIA,
who participated in Monday's announcement with Solis. "With the dynamic nature
of information technology, it's critical for our industry to make available to
the nation's workforce opportunities for ongoing training and certification in
the IT skills that will keep us competitive."
The
Department of Labor intends to award two types of training grants: those that
provide on-the-job training to all participants and those that use other
training strategies. At least $150 million will be awarded to grantees that
provide on-the-job training. The department also intends to award at least $45
million to applicants proposing to provide training for occupations in the
health care industry and at least $60 million to applicants that serve
long-term unemployed individuals.
"These
grants will help many companies-small, medium and large-address their need for
skilled technology workers during these challenging economic times. CompTIA
will actively support and encourage the participation of our members, large and
small, in the grant solicitation," Thibodeaux said. "We're pleased that several
of the recommendations have been included in the final grant solicitation
process and that businesses will be able to compete for these grants and use
the funding for training and up-skilling their incumbent workers."
Last
fall Solis, CompTIA and leaders in the IT industry-including representatives
from CVS, HP, IBM, Juniper Networks and Oracle-met to discuss strategies on how
the H-1B Technical Skills Training Grants program should be structured to
maximize benefits to the American workforce.
Workforce
development is one of the pillars of CompTIA's advocacy on behalf of the IT
industry. With more than 1.4 million certifications awarded worldwide, CompTIA
is the largest provider of vendor-neutral certifications for IT professionals.
These certifications are the recognized industry standards for a broad range of
technology skills, including PC fundamentals and repair, networking, security,
server, Linux, project management, printing and document imaging and convergence
technologies.
Nathan Eddy is Associate Editor, Midmarket, at eWEEK.com. Before joining eWEEK.com, Nate was a writer with ChannelWeb and he served as an editor at FierceMarkets. He is a graduate of the Medill School of Journalism at Northwestern University.
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