FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
December 13, 2006
Media Contact: Michael Corby
904.632.3310

Florida Community College Jacksonville awarded $2M in President’s Community-based Job Training Grants
FCCJ one of only 72 schools to receive part of $125M in nationwide grants

Florida Community College at Jacksonville has been named one of only 72 community colleges in the country to be awarded a $1,999,835 grant, out of a total $125 million nationwide. The award came as the result of the College’s successful competition in the President’s Community-based Job Training Grants initiative.

College President Steve Wallace received a personal call from Deputy Secretary Emily Stover DeRocco of the U.S. Department of Labor to inform him of the award.

“We will receive $2 million over the next three years to strengthen and expand the Florida Construction Institute we created a few years ago,” said Wallace. “The significant additional resources that will be provided by the grant will allow us to respond to the needs of the construction industry at an unprecedented level.”

The grants were introduced by President Bush in 2004 to build community colleges’ capacity to equip workers with the skills need to help local industries succeed. Industries range from health care to construction to advanced manufacturing and energy. FCCJ’s focus will be construction. The Florida Construction Institute of FCCJ will partner with WORKSource, First Coast regional Workforce Board, Duval County Public Schools, Pathways Charter School, Fresh Ministries and Cornerstone Regional Development Partnership to help meet the demand for trained construction workers.

“We are extremely pleased and grateful for this generous exhibit of trust placed in us by the Department of Labor,” said Edythe Abdullah, president of the Downtown Campus where the Florida Construction Institute is based. “This grant will allow us and our partners to meet the growing demand for skilled construction workers, trained right here in our community, for jobs right here in our community. We expect to train more than 700 students in various construction trades with the funds provided by this grant, adding to the workforce, and ultimately to the economy.”

To achieve its goal the College will develop a curriculum (building on the curriculum in place) in five construction trades: plumbing, masonry, carpentry, electricity and HVAC. Projections are that construction jobs are expected to increase in Duval and surrounding counties more than 25 percent by 2013, employing more than 9,300 additional workers. The grant, in its duration, will allow the College and partners to train more than 730 students.