News Release   
        FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

October 20, 2006

CONTACT:

Ron Owens (916) 327-5356

       
LOS ANGELES VALLEY COLLEGE  AWARDED $1.5 MILLION  GRANT

SACRAMENTO -- A $1.5 million Advanced Manufacturing Industry Grant from the US Department of Labor (DOL) was awarded yesterday to Los Angeles Valley College (LA Valley College).  The grant will allow LA Valley College to work with a variety of partners to train young people from 150 area high schools and create jobs for about 700 individuals.  

LA Valley College is one of 11 organizations from 10 states that were awarded a US Department of Labor grant, announced California Labor & Workforce Development Agency (LWDA) Secretary Victoria Bradshaw, California Community Colleges Chancellor Marshall (Mark) Drummond, Los Angeles Community College District Chancellor Darroch (Rocky) Young, and Dr. Tyree Wieder, President, LA Valley College.

“This is good news because we have a great opportunity to train more than 1,500 young men and women in the San Fernando Valley," said Chancellor Drummond. “The federal grant enables the state, a community college, plus several manufacturers to focus on meeting the growing training and development needs of business and the workforce.”

With the help of LWDA, its workforce development and education mechanisms, and California Labor Secretary Bradshaw, California Community Colleges have the ability to help the manufacturing industry make inroads -- adding high skill, well-paying jobs to the economy.  LWDA continues to provide opportunities for workforce development, grants and training money to help high growth industries remain competitive in this global economy and retain advanced manufacturing jobs in California. LA Valley College, located in the San Fernando Valley, was one of 186 applicants competing for a total of $16.8 million grants.

In addition to the $1.5 million grant from the Department of Labor, 11 industry and local strategic partners will be contributing more than $1.7 million of in-kind support, which includes use of facilities, provision of services, expertise of staff and operation of state-of-the-art equipment.

“Los Angeles Valley College consistently addresses the critical workforce challenges of the San Fernando Valley manufacturing industry,” said LA Valley College President Tyree Wieder. “We are proud to be one of the educational institutions that are part of the President’s High-Growth Training Initiative, and we look forward to playing a major role in increasing the economic vitality of San Fernando Valley.”

Recognized by such prestigious organizations as the California Community Colleges Board of Governors, the Workforce Investment Boards, and the City of Los Angeles’ Mayor’s Office, the Los Angeles Valley College Job Training program has trained and placed more than 12,000 job seekers in new positions while providing skills and training upgrades to more than 6,000 incumbent workers in a variety of courses. This has provided the vehicle for these workers to promote to the next level of their career ladders.

The California Community College System provided educational, vocational and transfer programs to more than 2.5 million students during academic year 2005-2006. Constituting the largest system of higher education in the world, the California Community Colleges is currently comprised of 72 districts, 109 campuses, 64 approved educational centers, and 20 separately reported district offices. These assets include 58.4 million gross square feet of space housed in 4,629 buildings atop of more than 20,489 acres of land. More information about the system can be found at www.cccco.edu.

With the conclusion of the project, the following results are anticipated:

   • Create new jobs for 700 individuals
   • Decrease layoffs by 75% in the targeted companies
   • Train 1,155 people
   • 150 high school students will earn LAVC college credits

Los Angeles Valley College would like to thank their partners:

Education and Training Providers: California Manufacturing Technology Consulting (CMTC), Centers for Applied Competitive Technologies, San Bernardino Community College District, Los Angeles United School District, , Community College District - Center of Excellence. Workforce Investment System: Four City of Los Angeles’ WorkSource Centers in the San Fernando Valley, City of Los Angeles Workforce Investment Board.

Employers and Industry Representatives: San Fernando Valley Chapter of the National Tooling and Machining Association (NTMA), Pratt & Whitney Rocketdyne, Precision Dynamics Corp., Superior Industries, Bobrick, Mason Esterline Corp., Hawker Pacific, and Klune Industries.

Community-Based and Economic Development Organizations: City of Los Angeles Community Development Department, Economic Alliance of the San Fernando Valley, Regional Workforce Collaborative of the San Fernando Valley, Los Angeles Economic Development Corp., and the Department of Veterans Affairs.

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