November 14, 2016
Pennsylvania Gov. Tom Wolf announced on Monday the allocation of $4 million in strategic innovation grants to support the state's workforce development plans.
Philadelphia Works, a program located in Bucks, Montgomery and Philadelphia counties, will receive $214,686 to create manufacturing pre-apprenticeship programs to meet the talent needs of small to mid-size manufacturers throughout the region.
The program will be developed in partnership with Philadelphia-based Rhoads Industries, an industry leader in fabrication, alignment and assembly, and welding services for both commercial and Department of Defense projects.
"The project will result in approval of a competency-based registered apprenticeship program, scoring mechanisms to evaluate apprentice candidates and recruitment and enrollment of an initial cohort of apprentices," according to a grant description.
“The strategic innovation grants promote my goals of jobs that pay, schools that teach and government that works by encouraging creativity and innovation in achieving workforce development outcomes for both employers and job seekers,” Wolf said.
Funds for the grants, distributed for a range of occupations in counties across the state, were awarded utilizing state Reemployment Fund resources.
“Developing workforce skills and connecting employers with qualified job seekers are efforts that require and often thrive by thinking outside of the box,” Labor & Industry Secretary Kathy Manderino said. “These efforts will strive to provide all Pennsylvanians, with an emphasis on Pennsylvanians with barriers to employment, an opportunity to obtain a job that pays and support the spread of employer practices that create those very jobs.”
A full list of Pennsylvania's strategic innovation grant winners can be accessed here.
