$9.7M Federal Grant to Boost Healthcare Career Training in Alaska
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The Alaska Primary Care Association (APCA) in Anchorage is getting $9.7 million to expand job opportunities and improve Alaska’s healthcare sector through training programs.
Good Jobs Challenge
The federal money is an American Rescue Plan Good Jobs Challenge grant from the US Department of Commerce’s Economic Development Administration (EDA). APCA’s Alaska Healthcare Workforce Pipeline is one of thirty-two projects nationwide receiving the first batch of grants.
“The Good Jobs Challenge is creating new pathways to employment by reaching previously underserved communities,” says Assistant Secretary of Commerce for Economic Development Alejandra Y. Castillo. “The Alaska Healthcare Workforce Pipeline will train and employ thousands of new healthcare workers, with a focus on Alaskan Native people.”
Alaska’s Healthcare Workforce Pipeline is supporting opportunities for Alaska’s healthcare sector by training and employing new healthcare workers. With the support of industry employers and union partners, APCA designed the programs to provide pre-apprenticeships, registered apprenticeships, and healthcare career pathways available to all Alaskan high school students.
“A trained workforce is essential to ensuring that the United States can compete and succeed in the 21st century,” says Secretary of Commerce Gina Raimondo. “Thanks to funding from the American Rescue Plan, the Commerce Department is able to make once-in-a-generation investments in industry-driven, and locally-led workforce systems that will create high-quality jobs and accelerate regional economic growth, especially for underserved communities.”
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The awardee projects were selected from a competitive pool of 509 applicants. They split $500 million for training programs in industry sectors including transportation, construction, manufacturing, forestry, and childcare, in addition to healthcare.
The projects are meant to expand access to the workforce and increase labor participation from underserved populations, including members of Latino, African American, Indigenous, Asian American, Native Hawaiian, and Pacific Islander communities, as well as women, the formerly incarcerated, and those recovering from substance abuse disorders. By providing access to high-quality jobs that include good pay, benefits, and career mobility while simultaneously serving vital industries, these grants support regional economies that in turn benefit the nation’s growth, competitiveness, and resilience.
The Good Jobs Challenge is part of a suite of American Rescue Plan programs developed by the EDA to distribute its $3 billion allocation to assist communities in their efforts to accelerate economic recovery from the COVID-19 pandemic and to build more resilient, shockproof local economies.
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