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Lamer Institute of Technology
July 10, Governor Greg Abbott announced over $6.5 million in Texas Talent Connection grants awarded to 21 workforce skills training and job placement programs in communities across the state; $873,333 of those funds is heading to Southeast Texas.
“Thanks to our young, skilled, diverse, and growing workforce, Texas is the best state for business,” Abbott said. “Meeting the needs of Texas employers by providing a continuing pipeline of workers with in-demand skills is paramount to ensure expanding economic opportunity in communities across the state. I am proud that Texas continues to connect more employers to work-ready skilled Texans and more Texans to in-demand skills training for higher-paying careers and career advancement – creating a brighter Texas of tomorrow for all.”
Administered by the Texas Workforce Investment Council in the Governor’s Office of Texas Economic Development and Tourism, the competitive grants support innovative education and workforce skills training programs that lead to successful job placement, increased wages, and improved job retention, as well as serve workforce populations with special needs.
Texas Talent Connection grant awarded to Southeast Texas entities include:
• Lamar State College Port Arthur: $298,673 for “year one of the Sempra LNG – Clean Energy and Fair Jobs project; serving Chambers, Hardin, Jasper, Jefferson, Newton, and Orange counties; providing training for minority, underserved, or rural students in high-quality transportation and construction jobs for the Sempra LNG construction project.”
• Lamar Institute of Technology: $241,540 for “year one of the Drive Southeast Texas Talent project; serving Jefferson County; providing online and in-person technical skills training for low-to-moderateincome, underrepresented and/or underserved, nontraditional, and bilingual individuals in need of upskilling, career counseling, and job placement for industry-based certification opportunities including clinical medical assistant, medication aide, AutoCAD draftsman, welding, and transportation.”
• Workforce Solutions of Southeast Texas: $297,120 for “year three of the Southeast Texas Internship and Externship Training project; serving Hardin, Jefferson, and Orange counties; providing Texans, 18 to 24 years, who are neither enrolled in school nor participating in the labor market, with eight-week paid internships.”
The more than $6.5 million in Texas Talent Connection grants awarded this year are Wagner-Peyser 7(b) grant funds allocated to the Office of the Governor by the U.S. Department of Labor to “encourage innovation in workforce training and job placement services.”
Read more about the Texas Talent Connection grant program at gov. texas.gov/organization/twic/wagner_ peyser_7b_program.