Florida TRADE, the recent $15 million grant program that St. Petersburg College is spearheading to train workers in advanced manufacturing, will join the Community College Transformative Change Initiative, led by the Office of Community College Research and Leadership (OCCRL) at the University of Illinois.
This is an independent evaluation and scaling project related to the Department of Labor’s Trade Adjustment Assistance Community College and Career Training (TAACCCT) grants.
The initiative is funded by the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, Lumina Foundation for Education the Joyce Foundation and will allow SPC to accelerate opportunities for expanding and replicating its manufacturing training program institutionally, statewide and nationally. The initiative allows institutions to share transformative policies, processes and practices with one another and lead a national dialogue on community college transformative change. The initiative will also research what works to advance the role that community colleges play to meet the evolving needs for a highly skilled workforce for our country.
SPC was awarded the Florida TRADE grant last year as part of the Labor Department’s TAACCCT grants for Round 2. Through the grant, SPC will lead 12 community and state college partners in Florida to develop and implement technical training programs and services for displaced and unemployed workers, incumbent workers, students and returning veterans that will lead to employment and potential promotions in the manufacturing sector.
St. Petersburg College News 