Workforce Development gets $2 million grant

PEORIA - The U.S. Department of Labor awarded a $2 million grant last week to Peoria's Workforce Development office that's expected to help bridge the area's health care gap.
As a growing medical center, the Peoria area is expected to add more than 4,000 health care jobs over the next six years. The resulting worker shortage, particularly among technicians, medical assistants and nurses, calls for increased training, noted Workforce officials.
The Central Illinois Health Care Community Job Training Grant will provide training for 120 people who will receive an associate's or master's degree through the program or move from being a licensed practical nurse to a registered nurse.

The Peoria award was one of 69 grants announced across the nation as part of the Bush Administration's $125 million community-based job-training program.

"The Peoria grant is designed to improve the ability of community colleges to provide workers with the skills needed to compete in the workplace," said Jennifer Kaplan, a Labor Department spokeswoman speaking from her office in Washington, D.C. "The basic idea here is to provide as much education for the workforce as possible."

Workforce will annouce how individuals may apply for the grant money in the near future.