Gov. Nixon announces $1.1 million Training for Tomorrow Grant for St. Charles Community College

Published: 03/04/2010

Gov. Nixon announces $1.1 million Training for Tomorrow grant for St. Charles Community College

Launched by Gov. Nixon just two months ago, Training for Tomorrow is designed to educate Missourians for careers in growing industries.  These grants will help community colleges create or expand training programs to serve additional students.  Over the past two months, Missouri community colleges have worked quickly with local businesses to identify workforce needs and submit applications for funding to the Missouri Department of Economic Development.

"After sitting down with business and education leaders, it was clear that Missouri needed to ramp up training efforts to prepare our workers to compete in the 21st century," Gov. Nixon said.  "As employers begin to hire again, they are going to need workers with training in fields such as health care, technology, green energy and computers.  Training for Tomorrow will help get these programs up and running as quickly as possible - to get Missourians enrolled, trained and back on the job."

Through discussions with business leaders, St. Charles Community College has identified three growing industries with a pressing need for trained workers: surveying; technology and sustainability; and business development.  Using Training for Tomorrow funds, the College will develop specialized training modules, certificate programs and other training options in each of these areas to meet the needs of local businesses.

"At St. Charles Community College, we work closely with local employers to determine their workforce needs, and we develop programs that target those needs and train workers who are ready to hit the ground running," President John McGuire said.  "Using our Training for Tomorrow dollars, we will work seamlessly with local businesses to ensure that we're preparing workers with the right skills to move our economy forward."

Member institutions of the Missouri Community College Association were eligible to apply for funding under Training for Tomorrow.  Funding for the grants comes from the Second Supplemental Disaster Recovery Community Development Block Grant, a federal program to assist with economic recovery efforts.

The grants were competitive, and colleges were expected to provide significant detail in their applications, including:

• Outlining the specific actions they will take to expand the capacity of high-demand programs;
• Detailing the market demand for the programs, both by students and employers;
• Identifying partners from business and industry who can help design the programs;
• Aligning the expansion of these programs with local economic-recovery efforts;
• Showing that the expansion will create or add pathways to specific high-demand careers in the local market; and
• Drafting an implementation plan for the programs.

Training for Tomorrow grants for community colleges across Missouri are being finalized.  Gov. Nixon will visit additional colleges in the coming days to announce further Training for Tomorrow funding.