Chafee announces $1.97 million in Innovative Partnership grants

By PBN Staff
Twitter: @ProvBusNews

PROVIDENCE - Nearly $2 million worth of Innovative Partnership grants have been awarded by the Governor’s Workforce Board, Gov. Lincoln D. Chafee announced Thursday.

The grants, which range from $130,000 to $250,000, are an effort to develop career opportunities for students, out-of-school youth, and unemployed or underemployed adults with employers and educational providers.

Recipients include three community-based organizations, three employers, three Governor’s Workforce Board industry partners and one educational institution. They are:

• Amos House, $145,282 to enroll 60 homeless and low-income Rhode Islanders in training for culinary customer service

• Connecting for Children and Families, $168,366 to provide experiential culinary arts and hospitality training to 60 unemployed or underemployed people

• New England Institute of Technology, $250,000 for entry-level training in the shipbuilding and machine technology industries for 50 unemployed people

• OpenDoors, $130,423 for transitional employment and other services to 20 ex-offenders

• Rhode Island Hospital, $226,848 for accelerated certified nursing assistant training for 45 unemployed and underemployed Rhode Islanders

• The Rhode Island Marine Trades Association, $142,788 for pre-apprenticeship training for 20 unemployed or underemployed people

• St. Antoine’s Residence, $248,823 for health care career training and counseling for 151 Rhode Islanders

• Stepping Up, $247,363 to create clinical residency opportunities and mentoring for 24 newly licensed registered nurses

• Tech Collective, $218,118 for work readiness, technology training, certification and experiential learning for 15 unemployed or underemployed people

• The J. Arthur Trudeau Memorial Center, $192,865 for training and interships for 100 job seekers

According to a release, collectively, the grants will serve more than 540 participants in the hospitality, health care, information technology, marine trades and green technology industries. Of these participants, the release said, 420 are expected to gain work experience and/or internship opportunities through training programs. Approximately 300 are projected to find permanent employment related to their training.

“To accelerate Rhode Island’s economic recovery, we must continue to work to better address the training needs of our businesses,” Chafee said in prepared remarks. “By connecting employers with educational providers to serve the needs of the unemployed and underemployed, we are making real progress toward closing some of the skill gaps in our state.”

GWB Executive Director Rick Brooks said that 32 organizations submitted requests for proposals for the grants, requesting $5.4 million.

These grants are funded by the employer-financed Job Development Fund. Currently, more than 50 Rhode Island employers are providing work-related services made possible by Innovative Partnership grants.