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ETA Press Release: Labor Department Awards Demonstration Training Grants to Increase Learning, Earning by Hispanic Youth [07/05/1996]

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The U.S. Department of Labor is awarding four training grants for programs that enhance the educational and employment opportunities of disadvantaged, low-income Hispanic youth, Secretary of Labor Robert B. Reich announced.

"There is an undeniable link between education and earning power," said President Clinton. "The young people who participate in these programs will benefit in the short run because of what they learn, but they will also benefit in the long run because of the foundation they will receive for their careers."

The grants, totaling nearly $500,000, will be awarded to Miami Dade Community College; Albuquerque Technical Vocational Institute; Borough of Manhattan Community College and the Inter-American University of Puerto Rico.

They will be used to enhance students' self-development, learning skills and vocational knowledge to provide a basis for current educational achievement and future occupational success. They will also provide educators and employment and training providers with models for implementation and further development of similar programs for low-income Hispanic youth.

"We must make sure that all Americans have an opportunity to realize their educational and employment potential, unhampered by economic disadvantage or by differences in culture or language," said Reich. "These grants will provide models for full participation of Hispanic youth in our economic future."

The grants are authorized under the Job Training Partnership Act. Grantees are member institutions of the Hispanic Association of Colleges and Universities.

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Editor's Note: A list of the grantees, with brief descriptions of their projects, is attached.

This project will combine traditional training programs with non-traditional self-improvement approaches that reflect student cultural backgrounds and address barriers to educational attainment and employment. The program will provide participants with a variety of educational resources designed to enhance the learning process by making it more interesting and motivating. This 12-month project will target 40 to 50 students in South Dade County.

This project will create the Hispanic Network for Education and Training (H-NET), a computerized network of supportive services to encourage Hispanic students to complete an associate degree or certificate program. The program will ease access to academic, social, economic and personal support services. The effectiveness of the H-NET will be tested on a group of 100 students, who will be provided orientation, counseling, peer-monitoring, diagnostic and aptitude testing, a job/life course and financial aid.

This project focuses on the design and implementation of a formalized bilingual, contextual vocational training program for paraprofessional occupations. The curriculum is geared to health professions, particularly in the area of developmental disabilities, and it includes contextualized English-as-a-Second-Language (ESL) lessons. Core components are expected to be suitable for replication in other specific vocational training programs.

This research project provides an accelerated associate degree in nursing for unemployed licensed practical nurses (LPNs) in Puerto Rico. The project addresses the acute shortage of registered nurses (RNs) as well as the high rate of unemployment of practical nurses in Puerto Rico. This project will test a specially designed LPN-to-RN training model, enrolling current LPNs in the 12-month accelerated nursing program.

Archived News Release--Caution: information may be out of date.