The Department of Labor released $500 million in grants to community colleges and universities around the country for the development and expansion of training programs, including for health IT and other healthcare programs in rural areas.
The grants, announced on Sept. 19, are part of the Trade Adjustment Assistance Community College and Career Training initiative, which promotes skills development and employment opportunities in fields such as advanced manufacturing, transportation and healthcare, and encourages science, technology, engineering and math careers through partnerships between training providers and local employers.
The U.S. Department of Labor is implementing and administering the program in coordination with the U.S. Department of Education.
Through the initiative, each state, plus the District of Columbia and Puerto Rico, will receive at least $2.5 million in dedicated funding for community college career training programs.
In total, 297 schools will receive grants as individual applicants or as members of a consortium. The grants include 27 awards to community college and university consortia totaling $359,237,048 and 27 awards to individual institutions totaling $78,262,952. Twenty-five states that were without a winning individual submission will be contacted to develop a qualifying $2.5 million project.
Educational institutions will use these funds to create affordable training programs that meet industry needs, invest in staff and educational resources, and provide access to free, digital learning materials. All education materials developed through the grants will be available for use by the public and other education providers through a Creative Commons license.
These grants emphasize evidence-based program design, officials said. Each grantee is required to collect rigorous student outcome data annually and conduct final evaluations at the end of the grant period to build knowledge about which strategies are most effective in placing graduates in jobs.
Read more about the grant program here. Community colleges that received grants for health IT or other healthcare-related programs:
COLORADO
Pueblo Community College
Consortium Leader
Total Consortium Award Amount: $14,171,229
Consortium members: Kodiak College, Otero Junior College, Red Rocks Community College, Montana State University — Great Falls College of Technology, Flathead Valley Community College, Lake Area Technical Institute, Laramie County Community College
These programs will offer students the opportunity to acquire stackable certificates, allowing them to make progress in their profession as working adults while pursuing academic credentials. Additionally, many of the courses in these programs lattice so that students can more easily change their area of focus to a different allied health program and be able to apply their prior learning. As appropriate, partners will develop new lab exercises to provide students with the opportunity to conduct science experiments online.
CONNECTICUT
Norwalk Community College
Consortium Leader
Total Consortium Award Amount: $12,096,394
Consortium members: Capital Community College, Gateway Community College, Manchester Community College, Middlesex Community College, Charter Oak State College, Eastern Connecticut State University
The Health and Life-Sciences Career Initiative will use three evidence-based program strategies to provide certifications, industry-recognized credentials, and associate degrees to prepare veterans, Trade Adjustment Assistance-impacted, dislocated and other underemployed workers for careers in growing health and life sciences occupations. Efforts will increase the use of online and technology-enabled learning through online and mobile app math and science booster modules, self-assessment and feedback surveys embedded in online course modules, online workplace skills assessment and development tools, and the migration of courses to online and hybrid delivery.
FLORIDA
Palm Beach State College
Total Award Amount: $3,000,000
The program enhances health information technology programs through an integrated approach that significantly increases Palm Beach State College's ability to offer online and technology-enabled learning while simultaneously imploring an intensive, targeted student support services model. The proposed evidence-based strategies and comprehensive plan to work collaboratively with the public workforce system and local employers ensures that the educational and training programs offered meet industry demands and sufficiently prepare Trade Adjustment Assistance-eligible and other dislocated workers, including unemployed veterans for high-growth, high-demand health information technology careers.
ILLINOIS
Waubonsee Community College
Total Award Amount: $2,864,564
This project has two major strands: (1) Create a continuum of adult education programming and support services to successfully transition career-limited adult students into postsecondary occupational certificate and degree or training programs that result in an industry Waubonsee Community College, TAACCCT Abstract 2012 recognized certification or credential — This model is based on the adult education visioning document produced by the state of Illinois, successful bridge pilots across the state, and Waubonsee's pilot of health care contextualized coursework. (2) Develop and implement a stacked and latticed degree and certificate program in laboratory science. Develop or revise online and hybrid components as fit the needs of the adult population.
LOUISIANA
Bossier Parish Community College
Consortium Leader
Total Consortium Award Amount: $14,710,837
Consortium members: Delgado Community College, Northeast Louisiana Technical College, South Louisiana Community College, Copiah-Lincoln Community College, Meridian Community College, Mississippi Delta Community College, Northeast Mississippi Community College, Pearl River Community College
Using the evidence-based IBEST model and with the Accelerating Opportunity initiative's technical support, each college will develop and implement pathways that feature a new, core foundational information technology curriculum that integrates basic skills instruction with technical training to accelerate academic achievement and credential attainment. The common IT foundational curriculum leads to a marketable entry-level certification and lattices into multiple in-demand IT specialty pathways and certifications in health informatics, cyber security and industrial IT.
NEW MEXICO
Clovis Community College
Total Award Amount: $2,502,875
Clovis Community's "Allied Health Expansion" project will focus on 1) developing a co-enrollment track for our nursing program, 2) developing an accredited physical therapist assistant program and 3) redesigning our health information technology program to align with accreditation requirements. These high-demand fields are expected to grow significantly in the next several years, and we are strategically positioned to ensure that rural New Mexicans are a part of this industry growth. This project will develop high-quality, accredited allied health programs to meet the growing demand by both industry and student interest in our rural area.
NEW YORK
RFCUNY — Borough of Manhattan Community College
Total Award Amount: $3,000,000
Borough of Manhattan Community College and its partnering organizations will expand and improve existing program offerings to create a seamless career path for Trade Adjustment Assistance-eligible workers in occupations with the greatest projected growth through 2016 in New York City. The BMCC Health Information Pathways initiative will serve the dual purpose of creating the only Health Informatics Specialist Certificate program in the city of New York while at the same time provide crucial training for 450 TAA-eligible workers as well as other groups that have been disproportionately impacted by the current recession.
OREGON
Rogue Community College District
Total Award Amount: $3,000,000
The Pathways to Allied Health Professions capacity-building initiative will address local health care worker shortages prioritized by the largest health care employers, in Jackson and Josephine counties. The project brings not only new allied health profession education and training, but also curricular and program innovations, strong industry.
TENNESSEE
Roane State Community College
Consortium Leader
Total Consortium Award Amount: $12,570,415
Consortium members: Chattanooga State Community College, Cleveland State Community College, Columbia State Community College, Dyersburg State Community College, Jackson State Community College, Motlow State Community College, Nashville State Community College, Northeast State Community College, Pellissippi State Community College, Southwest Tennessee Community College, Volunteer State Community College, Walters State Community College, Tennessee Technology Center — McMinnville, Tennessee Technology Center — Murfreesboro, Tennessee Technology Center — Nashville, Tennessee Technology Center — Memphis
This program is designed to improve the opportunities to Trade Adjustment Assistance-eligible workers and others in health care-related training while at the same time meet the needs of the health care employers and industry. The project contains a strong student support prescription component designed to serve students and potential students to prepare for and make good decisions in selecting healthcare training as well as being successful once they start training to complete and obtain employment. The proposal also contains training prescriptions to address specific occupational training components that are currently not available or need enhanced/expanded to meet the needs of employers and industry in specific regions and across the state.
WASHINGTON
Bellevue Community College
Consortium Leader
Total Consortium Award Amount: $11,775,297
Consortium members: Bellingham Technical College, Clark College, Clover Park Technical College, Pierce College, Renton Technical College, Spokane Community College, Whatcom Community College, Northern Virginia Community College
The consortium will provide training in the high-demand, high-wage field of health information technology for veterans and their eligible spouses, Trade Adjustment Assistance--eligible individuals and others, while addressing gaps in educational infrastructure and stimulating employment.
WEST VIRGINIA
New River Community and Technical College
Total Award Amount: $3,000,000
New River Community and Technical College and its industry and community partners seek to fill an urgent market gap in southeastern West Virginia by substantially enlarging its nursing and allied health care program to accelerate re-employment of Trade Adjustment Assistance-eligible participants, as well as returning veterans and other unemployed and underemployed workers into high-skill, high-growth jobs in one of the poorest rural regions in the nation. New River currently offers a small number of allied healthcare programs, but is seeking to expand and improve on these offerings.
WYOMING
Casper College
Total Award Amount: $2,305,079
This program will enhance the school's ability to deliver health care training programs that meet the growing needs of Trade Adjustment Assistance-eligible students, the long-term unemployed, underemployed workers and Wyoming veterans. Casper College will create a medical simulation lab, curricula and learning materials that will be used by all nine of the school's health science programs to provide learning conditions that imitate real-life situations without putting patients at risk.
