Reconciliation Passes, Awaits President’s Signature
The House passed the reconciliation bill last night by a 220-207 vote. The amendment bill, which included the fixes made to the Senate version of the bill, will now go to President Obama for his signature. Â This bill includes $2 billion in funding through the Community College and Career Training Grant Program for community colleges to support education and training programs for dislocated workers and unemployed workers. The program will be competitive, but each state will be guaranteed .5% of the total funding, which totals $2.5 million per state.
Disaster Relief and Summer Jobs Act
This week the House passed the H.R. 4899, Disaster Relief and Summer Jobs Act by a vote of 239-175. The bill would provide an additional $600 million to the states in Workforce Investment Act funding for youth activities, available exclusively to support summer jobs. While the bill still needs to go to the Senate for consideration, the WIA funding has the full support of the White House which issued a Statement of Administrative Policy stressing the importance of providing summer employment opportunities for disadvantaged youth.
Health Care Bill Includes Training Grants
The health care bill, H.R. 3590, the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act, includes several grants to provide money for training in the health care field:
- State Health Care Workforce Development Grants (sec. 5102) – planning and implementation grants to State WIBs “to encourage regional partnerships to address health care workforce development needs and to promote innovative health care workforce career pathway activities, including career counseling, learning, and employment.â€
- Grants for State and Local Programs (Sec. 5206) – grants for training for mid-career Public Health Professionals to be added to the Public Health Service Act. Grants would “award scholarships to eligible individuals to enroll in degree or professional training programs for the purpose of enabling mid-career professionals in the public health and allied health workforce to receive additional training in the field of public health and allied health.â€Â The term ‘eligible entity’ indicates an accredited educational institution that offers a course of study, certificate program, or professional training program in public or allied health or a related discipline, as determined by the Secretary.
- Training Opportunities for Direct Care Workers (Sec. 5302) – Grants to eligible entities to “enable such entities to provide new training opportunities for direct care workers who are employed in long-term care settings such as nursing homes, assisted living facilities and skilled nursing facilities, intermediate care facilities for individuals with mental retardation, home and community based settings.†Eligible entity is an accredited institute of higher education that has established a public-private educational partnership with a nursing home or skilled nursing facility, agency or entity providing home and community based services to individuals with disabilities, or other long-term care provider.
- Workforce Diversity Grants (Sec. 5404) – Grants to or contracts with eligible entities to increase nursing education opportunities for individuals who are from disadvantaged backgrounds (including racial and ethnic minorities underrepresented among registered nurses) by providing student scholarships or stipends, pre-entry preparation, and retention activities, stipends for diploma or associate degree nurses to enter a bridge or degree completion program, student scholarships or stipends for accelerated nursing degree programs, pre-entry preparation, advanced education preparation, and retention activities.
Tags: community colleges, Congress, federal legislation, funding, Job training, postsecondary, president, Public Policy, WIA