USDOT awards grants to promote transit careers

Written by Jenifer Nunez, assistant editor
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The U.S. Department of Transportation has awarded $9.5 million in grants to 19 projects in 13 states selected to help train a new generation of skilled workers and support long-term careers in the public transportation industry.

The funds will be provided through the Federal Transit Administration’s (FTA) Innovative Public Transportation Workforce Development program.

“The public transit industry offers good-paying careers that can lift Americans into the middle class or help them stay there and more of these careers will be available in the future,” said U.S. Transportation Secretary Anthony Foxx. “These grants will help us overcome skills gaps and provide more young people with the training, apprenticeships and educational opportunities they need to gain entry into these careers.”

Recently, the U.S. Departments of Transportation, Education and Labor released a joint report entitled “Strengthening Skills Training and Career Pathways across the Transportation Industry.” The report details the future growth areas or employment “hot spots” in transportation by industry subsectors, occupations, career areas and geographic areas.

“The demand for skilled transit workers will continue to grow as new projects are planned, built and come on line and as ridership continues to expand in cities like Los Angeles and other communities across the country,” said FTA Acting Administrator Therese McMillan. “And we are committed to making careers in transit a real ladder to opportunity by helping provide education and financial security, especially for those in disadvantaged communities.”

Two organizations in Los Angeles were selected in this latest round of FTA workforce development grants: Los Angeles Trade-Technical College (LATTC) will receive funding to establish the Institute for Advanced Transportation Technology Training – the first program of its kind in a community college in the country and Community Career Development, Inc. will receive funding for its Moving Employees into Transit Related Opportunities program, which will partner with organizations such as LA Valley College to recruit and train low-income individuals, women, veterans, minorities and others from communities throughout Metropolitan Los Angeles.

FTA’s workforce development projects will develop or expand strategic partnerships with transit agencies, labor unions, nonprofits and academic institutions and some will also support small businesses in the transit sector owned by women and minorities. In addition, several projects will serve as scalable models that can be applied to future projects throughout the United States.

Eligible applicants included public transportation providers at the state, local and regional level, metropolitan planning organizations, Native American tribes, non-profit institutions and institutions of higher education.

Demand for FTA’s workforce grants far exceeded available funds, as FTA received a total of 50 applications requesting more than $27 million. The Obama Administration’s GROW AMERICA Act would provide $478 billion over the next six years to help build the transportation workforce of the future, providing consistent long-term funding for transportation and infrastructure.

According to the Strengthening Skills Training report, employers will need to hire and train a total of 4.6 million new workers, 1.2 times the current transportation workforce, due to expected growth, retirements and turnover in the transportation industry from 2012 to 2022.

It is projected that 417,000 of these positions will be created as a direct result to increased demand on transportation systems and the highest percentage of these jobs will be in transit and ground passenger transportation.

 

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