The U.S. Labor Department today awarded the SUNY network of community colleges a $14.6 million grant to develop worker training programs.
The hope is to retrain unemployed upstate New Yorkers for new careers in emerging industries like nanotech and bioscience.
The biggest winner out of the state's 30 community colleges is Monroe Community College, which is being awarded almost $8 million and will spearhead the program.
Of the other schools, Onondaga Community College emerged a big winner, being awarded nearly $1.2 million.
The program, according to Sen. Charles Schumer, who pushed for the grants, will pair industry groups with the colleges to run the training.
Schumer made the announcement during a conference call earlier today.
“This multi-million federal investment is a game-changer that will connect unemployed New Yorkers with the state’s top employers that are ready to hire skilled workers in their own backyard,” he says.
The money will be used to set up on-campus job training centers. They will be able to train up to 3,000 workers in the short term, according to Schumer.
A recent article by the Democrat and Chronicle put the number of unfilled high-tech manufacturing jobs in New York at 50,000.
This was Schumer and SUNY's second attempt at winning funding for the program, according to The Post-Standard.
Here is the full list of schools being awarded money:
- Monroe - $7,053,729 for statewide Collaborative costs; $933,842 for MCC program costs
- Adirondack - $35,880
- Broome - $89,700
- Cayuga - $629,306
- Clinton - $262,540
- Corning - $1,014,530
- Dutchess - $159,190
- Erie - $926,922
- Fulton-Montgomery - $95,864
- Genesee - $145,348
- Herkimer - $12,546
- Hudson Valley - $95,864
- Jamestown - $35,880
- Mohawk Valley - $389,937
- Onondaga - $1,196,825
- Orange - $124,583
- Rockland - $60,908
- Schenectady - $436,288
- Suffolk - $103,739
- Sullivan - $22,214
- Tompkins-Cortland - $74,750
- Ulster - $583,505
- Westchester - $149,500
You can follow reporter Ryan Delaney on Twitter @RyanWRVO
