The U.S. Department of Labor has selected three colleges including Aiken Tech to form a consortium to develop a virtual Workforce Innovation Center for Advanced Manufacturing and Nursing — two sectors the agency identified as priority workforce needs. This comes with a large grant from the DOL to accomplish the task.
Piedmont Technical College (PTC) and Orangeburg-Calhoun Technical College (OCtech) are also included in a grant to address the needs of those two sectors. Combined, the three technical colleges are expected to have a big impact on the CSRA and the communities they each serve.
“This collaboration further demonstrates our colleges’ commitment to the South Carolina Technical College System’s tenets of providing education that is affordable, accessible, and relevant,” said Aiken Tech President, Dr. Forest Mahan. “This initiative will help open doors for residents in our communities and help to meet the growing workforce demand for two of the top sectors in our region.”
Key intended beneficiaries of the $4.9 million, four-year grant are new entrants in the workforce, underserved and marginalized community residents, as well as dislocated, unemployed, and incumbent workers.
The initiative will expand programs for continuing education, create and expand career pathways, and increase program participation in the fields of nursing and manufacturing.
The wide-ranging initiative comes with numerous related objectives designed to improve job placement and upskill rates, increase formal apprenticeships and work-based opportunities, improve measures of equity among targeted rural populations, and more.
The goal of the program is to create a transition from short-term to long-term paths to successful careers.
In addition to equipment and simulation software, the grant supports new personnel to galvanize these resources into measurable results. These new positions include a project director, instructional designer, nursing instructor, and retention counselor.
The grant will also create advanced manufacturing training labs and increase participation in nursing programs.
