LANSING – A $3 million federal grant to train workers for new energy technology jobs will flow through the No Worker Left Behind program, designed to help displaced workers, but the first chunk will go to those already working.
The grant, expected to be approved by the Administrative Board next week, is dedicated to the Green Jobs Initiative, providing an as-yet-undetermined variety of training in such areas as renewable energy and new batteries to those who lost jobs working with older technology.
When Gov. Jennifer Granholm touted the Green Jobs Initiative in her May 8 radio address, she said it would enable “the highly successful No Worker Left Behind program to provide green-jobs training for more unemployed or underemployed citizens.”
But much of the first $600,000 of that money will go to those still working for the auto companies. The Academy for Green Mobility will run 200 engineers through programs on advanced battery systems over the next two semesters. Of those, the first 150 to take the courses being offered through Wayne State University and Michigan Technological University will be current employees of the Detroit Three and their suppliers.
“We identified a number of incumbent engineers that are going to go through this initial academy,” said Marcia Black-Watson, Department of Energy, Labor and Economic Growth deputy director for employer services. “If there slots, then we would start to reach out to dislocated workers.”
Black-Watson said the program was designed in collaboration with the automakers and suppliers to provide the workers they said they would need to develop the next generation of cars and trucks. “They needed engineers that really had more hands on experience,” she said.
The program will not provide a degree, but Black-Watson said it would provide an industry-recognized training certificate.
The department is still working with industry leaders to develop the next phases of the program, including additional university courses. But Ms. Black-Watson said among the expected programs is assistance for those with some training as auto mechanics to learn to maintain and repair coming hybrid, electric and diesel vehicles.
Some of the money will go to colleges and universities to experiment with new course and schedule designs. “We also set aside a portion to help build capacity within the secondary education system, innovation grants that support delivering training and education programs in innovative ways,” she said.
The Michigan Emerging Markets Skills Alliance, which provides programs to train tool and die workers in building equipment needed for wind and solar energy projects, also is part of the Green Jobs Initiative, but will not see part of the $3 million because it is already funded through local sources in the Jackson region, Black-Watson said.
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