$54M Grant Funding Announced for Skills Training and Affordable Childcare for Parents

The U.S. Department of Labor (DOL) has announced the recipients of the Strengthening Working Families Initiative grant on June 14th, as part of the first United State of Women Summit.  

The Summit was the beginning of a conversation about the changes needed to ensure that all Americans have the opportunity to have a job and a family. According to DOL,  six out of ten households with children have all parents working. With more parents working, greater access to affordable, high-quality child care is needed but is difficult to find due to steadily increasing child care costs and relatively stagnant funding to cover the costs of child care.  While training and education can help move parents into better paying jobs, some of the barriers to employment also serve as barriers to training and education. The lack of access to affordable child care keeps parents from participating in educational programs.

Of the 21 million low-income parents, only 1 in 10 participates in education and training. Of low-income parents participating in education and training, almost half are working at the same time, resulting in the burden of paying child care costs while at work, in training, and commuting.

These monies will support providing access to education and training to help parents move along a career pathway that will lead to better paying jobs. Below are the 2016 grant recipients.  

Grantee Name and Amount                                                               State                                                          Areas Served                                                     

Action for Boston Community Development Inc.                                   MA                                                            City of Boston                                                         $3,462,075

Alachua Bradford Regional Workforce Board, dba CareerSource         FL                                                Alachua and Bradford counties                                           $4,000,000

City of Long Beach Pacific Gateway Workforce Investment Net           CA                                                      County of Los Angeles                                                  $4,000,000

City of Phoenix                                                                                       AZ                                                         Maricopa County                                                        $4,000,000

Community College of Aurora                                                                CO                                Aurora and Denver; Adams, Arapahoe Denver counties                   $3,969,442

Family Footprint                                                                                      SC                                             Greenville and Laurens Counties                                          $4,000,000

Memphis Bioworks Foundation                                                               TN                                Fayette, Lauderdale, Shelby and Tipton counties                              $3,984,433

Moore Community House                                                                        MS                                    Hancock, Harrison and Jackson counties                                     $3,545,949

OAI  Inc.                                                                                                    IL                                                          Cook County                                                             $3,999,981

OIC of Broward, dba OIC of South Florida                                               FL                                                      Broward County                                                           $4,000,000

Rochester Rehabilitation Center                                                              NY                                                     City of Rochester                                                          $4,000,000

The WorkPlace                                                                                         CT                              Fairfield County and parts of New Haven County                               $3,432,200

Total Action Against Poverty in the Roanoke Valley, Inc.                          VA                       Counties of Roanoke, Floyd, Giles, Montgomery and Pulaski;                  $4,000,000

                                                                                                                                                             cities of Radford, Salem and Roanoke

Vermont Technical College                                                                        VT                                                  State of Vermont                                                             $4,000,000

                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                   TOTAL = $54,394,080.00

To learn more about the Strengthening Working Families Initiative, visit www.doleta.gov/grants.