Earlier this month, EDA announced the recipients of our American Rescue Plan Good Jobs Challenge grants program, which allocates $500 million to collaborative skills training systems and programs that lead to good-paying jobs. I'm pleased to note that eight of the 32 grantees are from EDA's Seattle Region.

The list of grantees includes the Alaska Primary Care Association, the Economic Development and Industrial Corporation Serving Fresno County (California), the Foundation for California Community Colleges, Nevadaworks, the Southwestern Oregon Workforce Investment Board, the University of Hawaii, the Washington Student Achievement Council, and the WTIA Workforce Institute.

Congratulations to all of our awardees! 

Helen Hayes once said that age is unimportant unless you’re a cheese. For the city of Willows, California, that adage also applies to cheese factories. In the mid-2010s, the town’s 100-year-old, family-owned cheese producer was on the cusp of relocating its operations to a new facility in a different area, a move necessitated by its increasingly antiquated factory. The potential loss of this major employer created economic uncertainty in the region. [CONTINUE READING]

Mat-Su Valley Frontiersman (Wasilla, Alaska)

"... the UAA College of Health recently received a $4 million grant from the U.S. Economic Development Administration to help expand the state’s homegrown health care workforce. These funds are being used to construct new laboratories and classrooms and upgrade existing facilities, opening up new education and training opportunities." [READ MORE]

425 Business (Bellevue, Washington)

"The Washington Student Achievement Council will receive $23.5 million to create a new program called the Washington Jobs Initiative. The Washington Jobs Initiative will build sectoral partnerships in six high-demand industries — advanced manufacturing and aerospace, construction, energy, and clean technology, financial services, health care, and information technology and cybersecurity — to connect jobseekers with local, quality jobs through a career pathway project." [READ MORE]

GeekWire (Bellevue, Washington) 

"The Apprenti apprenticeship program run by the Washington Technology Industry Association (WTIA) was awarded a $23.5 million grant to help train more tech workers across 11 states. The funding comes from the U.S. Department of Commerce and is part of the $500 million Good Jobs Challenge funded by the American Rescue Plan. Apprenti, also known as the WTIA Workforce Institute, was among 32 projects nationwide to be awarded a grant out of more than 500 applications." [READ MORE]

Honolulu Star-Advertiser (Honolulu, Hawaii)

"The University of Hawaii Community Colleges are working toward a sustainable workforce training system by establishing the Resilient Hawaii: Good Jobs Challenge initiative to train participants to obtain work certifications nearly free of cost." [READ MORE]

Las Vegas Review-Journal (Las Vegas, Nevada)

"A Northern Nevada workforce training program was one of 32 selected by the Biden administration to receive a portion of $500 million from the American Rescue Plan to be announced today, officials said late Tuesday. Nevadaworks will receive $14.9 million for a program that aims to help underserved, rural and tribal communities with education, training and a commitment from companies to hire people who complete courses." [READ MORE]

Press-Telegram (Long Beach, California)

"During the past 12 months, AltaSea, 2451 Signal St., near Warehouse One, has secured $24 million in local, state and federal funding commitments and is a finalist for a $32 million U.S. Economic Development Administration federal grant." [READ MORE]

Saipan Tribune (Saipan, Northern Mariana Islands)

"... the CNMI SBDC at the Northern Marianas College recently met with members from the International Economic Development Council in order to discuss ways to provide technical assessment and capacity building services to the CNMI. IEDC, through funding from the U.S. Economic Development Administration, is offering these services to the CNMI through March 31, 2024." [READ MORE]

Sacramento Bee (Sacramento, California)

"... the Foundation for California Community Colleges has been awarded more than $21 million to develop statewide infrastructure for training in forest health and fire safety. Federal officials said the emerging sector has the potential to grow into a $39 billion industry, but there are shortages of fire and forestry crew leaders, scientists and others." [READ MORE]

Seattle Weekly (Seattle, Washington)

"On August 3 the U.S. Department of Commerce awarded two grants to Washington based organizations for workforce development programs. The grants total $47 million and are funded by the American Rescue Plan Act of 2021." [READ MORE]

Santa Ynez Valley News (Santa Maria, California)

"An effort to link northern Santa Barbara County communities with affordable fiber-optic broadband service has taken another step forward with the award of a $444,787 federal grant to produce a strategy and business plan. The grant from the Economic Development Administration was jointly applied for by the Santa Ynez Band of Chumash Indians and the Economic Alliance Foundation, an EconAlliance spokeswoman said." [READ MORE]

Spokane Journal of Business (Spokane, Washington)

"RAIN is funded by a grant from the U.S. Economic Development Administration’s Scaling Pandemic Resilience Through Innovation and Technology Challenge. Through the grant, 70 people based in Washington, northern Idaho, or western Montana can access the Ann and Bill Payne ACA Angel University program, which includes six 90-minute weekly courses on angel investing provided by Kansas-based Angel Capital Association." [READ MORE]

Statesman Journal (Salem, Oregon)

"The water line project on Second Street will upsize 41,400 feet of water from Jefferson Street to Lincoln Street. The city received a $1.15 million grant from the Economic Development Administration for that. It also will contribute $200,000 to the project." [READ MORE]

The Business Journal (Fresno, California)

"The program is called Central Valley Built 4 Scale and will be administered by the Fresno County Economic Development Corp. It is one of 32 projects in the U.S. receiving grants form a pool of 509 applicants as part of the American Rescue Plan’s $500 million Good Jobs Challenge." [READ MORE]