Springfield workers and employers will benefit from a $17.5 million federal government grant designed to create opportunities for fulfilling work.
U.S. Secretary of Commerce Gina Raimondo announced the Department’s Economic Development Administration (EDA) is awarding a $17.5 million American Rescue Plan Good Jobs Challenge grant to the city of Springfield. The grant will further the Quadra-Regional Workforce Alliance, a workforce training program to support the region’s health care, trucking, and education industries.
This program will create three partnerships with Springfield employers to build and train the workforce in Springfield. Through training programs with employers, the Quadra-Regional Workforce Alliance will train workers with a focus on persons from populations that are overlooked in worker searches.
“The Economic Development Administration is committed to supporting communities as they develop locally-focused systems to train American workers,” said Assistant Secretary of Commerce for Economic Development Alejandra Y. Castillo. “The Quadra-Regional Workforce Alliance will create three sector partnerships to build and train the local workforce with a focus on communities of color, women, and people with disabilities.”
This grant is funded through the American Rescue Plan Good Jobs Challenge. The program awarded grants to 32 worker-centered, industry-led workforce training partnerships across the country. The $500 million program is designed to expand opportunities for more Americans to access secure, good-paying jobs. Springfield and the other 31 grant recipients were selected from a pool of 509 applicants.
Springfield is the only community in Missouri to receive a Good Jobs Challenge grant. In order to serve women, persons of color and persons with disabilities, Springfield will be challenged to find solutions for employment barriers like child care and a lack of transportation options for workers.
“(A)ll 32 awardees will provide a variety of tailored services to remove systemic barriers for workers to participate in training programs,” part of the EDA's Good Jobs Challenge fact sheet reads. “A vast majority of the grantees will offer child care and transportation, while others will offer technology or language support to training program participants.”
