Students at Delaware Technical Community College just got back from the holiday break this past Monday, and the school was busy last week celebrating a major new source of funding dedicated to advancing IT and manufacturing jobs.

A total of $3.5 million from the U.S. Department of Labor’s America’s Promise grant program was awarded to Delaware Tech in an event at the school’s Wilmington campus last Friday.

Announcing America's Promise Grant with @JohnCarneyDE @SenatorCarper @ChrisCoons – $3.5 M from U.S. Dept of Labor to advance IT and Mfg jobs pic.twitter.com/eYE0p4DLSH — delawaretech (@delawaretech) January 6, 2017

The Department of Labor, last November, announced that it would be awarding more than $111 million to schools and regional workforce partnerships around the country.

“These grants are part of the Obama administration’s unprecedented investment in education and training programs that have helped to create more pathways to the middle class for millions of Americans,” said U.S. Secretary of Labor Thomas E. Perez in the press release.

“Pathways,” you say? If you remember, Delaware’s Pathways to Prosperity program — the initiative to engage and train students in the area to be job-ready right after high school — recently received $450,000 in funding from the Delaware Department of Education and members of the Delaware Business Roundtable. Delaware Tech’s manufacturing program was the first one to be adopted into the overall Pathways program, meaning that high school students take classes at the college. The school has been a part of the effort ever since.


At @delawaretech to celebrate @USDOL $3.5m grant to train students for good paying jobs in #manufacturing and information technology #netde pic.twitter.com/mWnDeYZwAp — Senator Chris Coons (@ChrisCoons) January 6, 2017

Senators Tom Carper and Chris Coons were in attendance at the announcement event, as well as Governor-elect John Carney, who had some words to say, in this video shot by WDEL at the event, in regards to how the manufacturing industry requires more tech training:

“You go into a plant now — you don’t see anyone turning a widget or anything,” he said. “The people that are in there employ fewer and fewer, but they’re running a computer, they’re running a screen, so there’s a whole level of technical skill that’s required.”

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