Partnership awards first 'Focus' grants
BYLINE: Matt Evans
Five organizations will receive more than $350,000 to fund educational programs in the Triad's top economic clusters through the first round of "focus" grants from the Piedmont Triad Partnership.
The grants are part of the regional economic development group's Workforce Innovations in Regional Economic Development or "Wired" initiative, which is funded by the U.S. Department of Labor.
The focus grants are intended to promote demonstration projects in areas such as curriculum development, worker assessments and remedial training that can help transition laid-off workers into higher-skill, higher-wage jobs. The projects approved for the first round of grants are:
-
•
A nursing program expansion at Montgomery County Community College; -
•
A cooperative program in logistics and distribution between Forsyth Technical Community College and Guilford Technical Community College; -
•
An expansion of the CareerStart program for middle school students in Winston-Salem/Forsyth County Schools; -
•
A study of the effectiveness of a career-readiness program at Randolph County Schools, Asheboro City Schools and Randolph County employers; and, -
•
Assessing job profiles in several positions at N.C. Baptist Hospital to include new career certifications.
Theresa Reynolds, the Wired project manager for the partnership, said grant applications for the focus program will be evaluated every month through November.
Grant applications are available at www.wired.piedmonttriadnc.com .