Valencia College and several other community colleges throughout Florida have been awarded $15 million to develop training programs to help meet the shortage of skilled labor in the state’s manufacturing sector.
The grant funds have been made available by the U.S. Department of Labor and will be overseen by the St. Petersburg College under a consortium project called, Florida TRADE (Transforming Resources for Accelerated Degrees & Employment) in Advanced Manufacturing.
Valencia will receive just over $683,000 in grant funding to develop a training program aimed particularly at veterans and the unemployed.
The College, in partnership with Workforce Central Florida, will create a series of online classes and certifications aimed at providing workers with the basic skills needed to function in high-end manufacturing jobs.
