U.S. Senator Mark R. Warner and Senator Tim Kaine last Thursday announced $2,699,000 in federal funding from the U.S. Department of Labor (DOL)’s Employment and Training Administration (ETA)’s YouthBuild grant program to provide job training and education for at-risk youth. Included in that total was a $1.5 million grant to Radford City for the New River-Mount Rogers Workforce Investment Area Consortium.
The remainder of the grant total went to Roanoke and was designated for the Goodwill Industries of the Valleys.
“These dollars will provide additional resources for at-risk young Virginians and help put them on a path toward successful careers,” the senators said. “These federal investments in community-based job programs will be crucial to our country’s economic recovery.”
Warner and Kaine have been leaders in the senate on efforts to support skills training programs to prepare students and workers for good-paying, in-demand jobs. In March, Kaine reintroduced the bipartisan Jumpstart Our Businesses by Supporting Students (JOBS) Act, cosponsored by Warner, to help improve access to job training programs by expanding Pell Grant eligibility. In May, Kaine also reintroduced the Assisting Community Colleges in Educating Skilled Students (ACCESS) to Careers Act to boost student success and career readiness.
YouthBuild is a pre-apprenticeship program that provides education and work training opportunities for vulnerable youth ages 16-24 who have dropped out of high school. As part of the program, these young Americans will split time between job training and the classroom where they earn high school diplomas or equivalency degrees and prepare for postsecondary training opportunities. This national program serves more than 6,000 youth annually in more than 40 states.
