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Archived News Release--Caution:
information may be out of date.
For more information call: (202) 401-6222
Washington, D.C., March 8 -- U.S. Secretary of Education
Richard W. Riley and U.S. Secretary of Labor Robert B. Reich today announced
that 37 communities across the country will receive local School To Work
partnership grants totaling more than $20 million. The grants, awarded jointly
by the Departments of Education and Labor to 22 states and Puerto Rico, will go
to communities that have formed partnerships between their education and
business sectors to help young people make the transition from school to
careers.
"School To Work is one of the most promising examples in
America today of a community's commitment to their children's future, " said
President Clinton. "The linking of the classroom and the workplace is an
exciting approach to learning and earning for young Americans. This partnership
inspires students, employers and teachers to do their very best. And with our
best working for America, we can look forward to setting the pace for global
competition as we enter the 21st century."
Including the grants announced today, School To Work
dollars have been committed to 81 communities in 42 states and Puerto Rico.
Those funds, used as venture capital, develop new methods for making school
relevant to real life for thousands of students across the nation.
Since May of 1994, when President Clinton signed the School
to Work Opportunities Act into law, more than 42,000 employers have formed
School To Work partnerships with educators, parents, students, organized labor,
and community organizations. Businesses that cannot find employees with strong
academic and job skills are recognizing that School To Work provides answers to
this problem.
"School to Work gives high school students the tools to
apply what is learned in the morning at school directly to what is earned in
the afternoon," Reich said. "This will give a new generation of Americans the
opportunities their parents and grandparents had before them -- to earn their
way into the middle class ... to achieve the American dream."
"School to Work joins the concepts of high academic
standards, real-life curriculum and work-based learning experiences to prepare
our young people for the challenges of living and working in today's
competitive, technologically driven environment," Riley said.. "Simply put,
it's schooling that works."
The administration awarded the grants on a competitive
basis from 215 applications submitted nationwide. In the coming weeks, exact
grant amounts will be determined by the scope of the proposed initiative and
size of the community.
These awards were funded by STW dollars appropriated in
1995. Under current budget proposals which could drastically reduce 1996 School
To Work funds, no new state or local grants would be awarded next year, despite
great interest to begin school-to-work programs. Investment in states and
communities currently participating also would be reduced or eliminated.
Communities receiving grants are attached.
Alaska Anchorage School District (Anchorage)
Arizona Pima and Santa Cruz Counties STW System (Tucson)
California Los Angeles County Office of Education (Downey)
East Bay School-to-Career Partnership Project (Hayward)
Napa County Office of Education (Napa)
Orange County Department of Education (Orange County)
Sacramento Regional School-to-Career Alliance (Sacramento)
Workforce Silicon Valley (Santa Clara)
East San Gabriel Valley Regional Occupational Program (West Covina)
COLORADO Front Range Consortium STW Initiative (Boulder County)
FLORIDA Seminole County STW Partnership (Sanford)
ILLINOIS Mid-River South Regional Partnership Coalition (Benton)
Chicago STW Opportunity Program (Chicago)
Northwest Suburban Career Cooperative (Palatine)
INDIANA Career Connection (Fort Wayne)
KANSAS South Central Kansas Partnership (Arkansas City)
MARYLAND The Mayor's Office of Employment Development (Baltimore)
MINNESOTA Anoka County STW Partnership (Blaine)
Lake County Service Cooperative (Fergus Falls)
Minneapolis Public Schools School to Work Transition Consortium (Minneapolis)
Stearns-Benton Employment and Training Council (St. Cloud)
MISSOURI Columbia Chamber of Commerce (Columbia)
NEBRASKA STW Of Lincoln (Lincoln)
NEW MEXICO Albuquerque Hispano Chamber of Commerce (Albuquerque)
OHIO Miami University of Ohio (Hamilton)
PENNSYLVANIA Greater Johnstown CTC (Johnstown)
The Southwestern Pennsylvania STW Opportunity System (Pittsburgh)
PUERTO RICO Univ. of Puerto Rico, Caribbean Basin Local Partnership (San Juan)
RHODE ISLAND Local School- to-Work Partnership for Warwick (Warwick)
SOUTH CAROLINA Charleston County School District (Charleston)
TENNESSEE Blount/Knox STWO Initiative to Integrate (Knoxville)
TEXAS Texas Region V Education Service Center (Beaumont)
Gladewater County Line Independent School District (Gladewater)
Concho Valley STW Partnership (San Angelo)
WASHINGTON Green River Community College (Auburn)
Seattle Public Schools (Seattle)
WYOMING Campbell County School District (Gillette)
Archived News Release--Caution:
information may be out of date.
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