Warner & Kaine Announce $10 Million in Federal Funding to Expand Access to Infrastructure Job Training

WASHINGTON, D.C. – Today, U.S. Senators Mark R. Warner and Tim Kaine, a member of the Senate Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions (HELP) Committee, announced $10,000,000 in federal funding to expand access to job training in the Richmond and Hampton Roads regions. The funding was awarded by the U.S. Department of Labor’s Employment and Training Administration’s Building Pathways to Infrastructure Jobs Grant Program, which provides funding for public-private partnerships to develop and implement job training programs that help workers access jobs in infrastructure-related fields, including advanced manufacturing, information technology, renewable energy, transportation, and broadband deployment. Legislation like the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law, bipartisan CHIPS and Science Act, and Inflation Reduction Act, which the senators helped pass, have and will continue to create millions of new jobs, but industries have reported there won’t be enough skilled workers to fill these positions. This funding is critical to meeting the increased demand for skilled workers and helping more Americans get good-paying jobs.

“We were proud to help pass the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law, CHIPS and Science Act, and Inflation Reduction Act to rebuild our nation’s crumbling infrastructure, grow our economy, and create new jobs. We need to make sure our workforce is prepared and there are enough skilled workers to carry out these projects,” said the senators. “We’re glad this funding will help more Virginians in the Hampton Roads and Richmond regions receive the training they need to get good-paying jobs.”

The funding will be awarded as follows:

• $5,000,000 for the Hampton Roads Workforce Council in Norfolk, which oversees federally funded workforce development programs in all localities in the Hampton Roads region, including Chesapeake, Franklin, Gloucester, Hampton, Isle of Wight, James City, Newport News, Norfolk, Poquoson, Portsmouth, Southampton, Suffolk, Virginia Beach, Williamsburg, and York.
• $5,000,000 for the Virginia Community College System in Richmond, which oversees the 23 community colleges throughout Virginia, that offer students workforce development services such as job training programs, career coaching, and credentialing options.

Warner and Kaine, co-chair of the Career and Technical Education (CTE) Caucus, have long supported job training programs. Kaine introduced the JOBS Act, bipartisan legislation to help more Americans get good-paying jobs by allowing students to use federal Pell Grants to afford high-quality, shorter-term job training programs. Kaine has also introduced bipartisan legislation to ensure that federal education data and research incorporates CTE to help improve states’ career readiness programs, meet the needs of the economy, and expand the skilled workforce.

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