Skip to content Back to Top
Department of Labor and Workforce Development
 
Office of the Commissioner

Administration Supports Alaska Hire Goal With $808,000 For Nine Job Training Programs

Dec. 19, 2003
No. 04-24

ANCHORAGE – State labor officials have approved $808,195 in nine grants to help organizations statewide jump-start training programs to prepare more than 300 Alaskans for jobs in health care, tourism and hospitality, aviation, information technology, value-added food production and marine engine maintenance.

The grants are authorized in the New Investment Strategy (NIS), a state-federal program developed by the Division of Business Partnerships in the Alaska Department of Labor and Workforce Development. The program is funded by the State Employment and Training Program (STEP) and the U.S. Department of Labor.

Director of Business Partnerships Katherine Farnham said, “The investment strategy is an innovative approach to job training projects that brings various funding streams into one cooperative process.” She said $701,000 of today’s grant total came from the State Training and Employment Program (STEP) with two federal training programs providing the balance of $107,195.

Commissioner of Labor Greg O’Claray said, “These grants support Governor Murkowski’s appeal to employers to strive for a resident workforce of 90 percent or more. That is setting the bar pretty high, and that’s great. We’re determined to expand training and job opportunities throughout the Alaska workforce.”

Farnham added, “We designed a grant process that responds to employers’ job needs. It’s user-friendly with a single application form for state and federal job-training programs. She said a $40,216 grant funding a joint venture between Cook Inlet Region, Inc. (CIRI) and the Alaska Vocational Technical Center (AVTEC) demonstrates how the business community and the state can work together.

The partnership will provide culinary arts and restaurant management training during the winter at the Resurrection Roadhouse, a restaurant at CIRI’s Windsong Lodge in Seward. “That’s a win-win for everybody,” Farnham said, “with good jobs for graduates and a trained workforce right at the Windsong Lodge doorstep.”

Farnham said the grants are administered in a new application, review and approval process that will be continued quarterly on a year-round basis. More than 20 additional applications were received in December and will be considered for funding early in 2004. The next quarterly application deadline is March 15, 2004. The grants announced today include:

  • $156,144 Galena School District, Interior Alaska, hospitality, tourism and culinary arts; and aviation dispatch
  • $87,493 North Star Computing, Fairbanks, for health care, information technology
  • $46,231 Alaska State Hospital & Nursing Home Association, for statewide, advanced nurses training and retention program
  • $223,586 University of Fairbanks, Kuskokwim campus, teachers aide training
  • $37,390 University of Alaska Southeast, Juneau, marine engine room internships
  • $47,592 Yukon-Kuskokwim Health Corporation Learning Center, Bethel, health care personal attendants, certified nurses aides
  • $60,530 Nuniwarmiut Reindeer & Seafood Products, Merkoryuk, value-added food production
  • $34,240 Yuut Elitnurviat, Bethel, information technology certifications
  • $114,989 Alaska Vocational Technical Center, Culinary Arts and No Child Left Behind qualifying test preparation programs.

Find more information on the New Investment Strategy on the Division of Business Partnerships link from the Alaska Department of Labor and Workforce Development website at labor.alaska.gov or by calling the Division of Business Partnerships in Anchorage at 907.269.7485.

###