The Department of Labor released $500 million in grants to community colleges and universities around the country for the development and expansion of training programs, including for health IT and other healthcare programs in rural areas.

The grants, announced on Sept. 19, are part of the Trade Adjustment Assistance Community College and Career Training initiative, which promotes skills development and employment opportunities in fields such as advanced manufacturing, transportation and healthcare, and encourages science, technology, engineering and math careers through partnerships between training providers and local employers.
 
The U.S. Department of Labor is implementing and administering the program in coordination with the U.S. Department of Education.

Through the initiative, each state, plus the District of Columbia and Puerto Rico, will receive at least $2.5 million in dedicated funding for community college career training programs.

In total, 297 schools will receive grants as individual applicants or as members of a consortium. The grants include 27 awards to community college and university consortia totaling $359,237,048 and 27 awards to individual institutions totaling $78,262,952. Twenty-five states that were without a winning individual submission will be contacted to develop a qualifying $2.5 million project.

Educational institutions will use these funds to create affordable training programs that meet industry needs, invest in staff and educational resources, and provide access to free, digital learning materials. All education materials developed through the grants will be available for use by the public and other education providers through a Creative Commons license.

These grants emphasize evidence-based program design, officials said. Each grantee is required to collect rigorous student outcome data annually and conduct final evaluations at the end of the grant period to build knowledge about which strategies are most effective in placing graduates in jobs.

Read more about the grant program here.
 

A list grant recipients for health IT and other healthcare programs is on the next page.