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Jobs Program for North County
Labor Dept. Grants $5 Million For
North County Skills Training Program
Gov. Jay Nixon has announced a new $5 million grant that will help provide skills-training and employment to thousands of young people in low-income and minority communities in North St. Louis City and County. Within the first year, the Career Pathways Bridge initiative has set a goal to connect 3,000 people in the area with employment, as well as engage 1,000 participants annually in skills training and 2,400 participants annually in work-readiness training. This latest effort builds on, and is in addition to, previously announced jobs initiatives in the greater St. Louis area.
U.S. Secretary of Labor Thomas E. Perez was in St. Louis on Tuesday, April 28 to also announce the grant. “Today’s grant will help young people in Missouri pave that path by making effective training and education more accessible.”
“By connecting thousands of low-income residents with employment and training opportunities, this initiative has the potential to make a real and lasting difference for families and businesses in this region,” Gov. Nixon said. “My administration and its partners will continue to work to ensure that North St. Louis and the entire region have more resources, more opportunities and more jobs, so that this community can continue to move forward in a positive direction.”
The Career Pathways Bridge initiative will be funded through a U.S. Department of Labor grant and led by a number of core community organizations. They include: the St. Louis County Division of Workforce Development, the St. Louis Agency on Training and Employment (SLATE), the Metropolitan Education and Training (MET) Center-St. Louis, Family and Workforce Centers of America, and the Governor’s Office of Community Engagement, which will play an integral role in facilitating collaboration, partnerships and community outreach to ensure the project’s success.
“Through this intensive initiative, we will build constructive and cooperative action
The initiative will seek to build upon the region’s both current job growth trends and projected future workforce needs. Over the year, St. Louis has gained over 20,000 jobs in the metropolitan area, with particular growth in the IT and financial services sectors. Occupations in the areas of Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics (STEM) are some of the most in-demand, fastest-growing and highest-paying jobs in Missouri. In fact, a recent report produced by the Missouri Economic Research and Information Center found that the state’s projected growth rate for all STEM occupations from 2012 to 2022 is 10.2 percent.
To meet these workforce demands and improve economic opportunities in disadvantaged neighborhoods, a network of community-based Career Pathways Bridge satellite American Job Centers will be established in the North St. Louis region. The satellite centers will be exclusively dedicated to helping bridge the gap between existing pathways into employment and viable careers with populations traditionally isolated from the region’s overall economic activity. Intensive services and training will be offered to help at-risk job seekers ages 18-30 develop the skills many employers look for. Skills-based training will be paired with job placement services in high-demand occupations and industry sectors including retail/hospitality, construction, IT, healthcare, manufacturing and bioscience.
This latest initiative to assist unemployed and under-employed young adults in the St. Louis area is in addition to the previously announced Summer Job League, which will connect 2,000 young people, ages 16 to 24, from low-income families in the St. Louis region with summer jobs in 2015.
