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Archived News Release--Caution:
information may be out of date.
For more information call: 202/219-6652
Women seeking to enter and move up in apprenticeship and nontraditional
occupations will benefit from $610,000 in grants announced today by Secretary
of Labor Alexis M. Herman.
Community-based organizations in Denver and New York City have been
awarded Women in Apprenticeship and Nontraditional Occupations (WANTO) grants
to provide technical assistance to help employers and labor unions increase the
number of women in apprenticeship and nontraditional occupations. A third
Washington, D.C.-based organization is receiving funds to complete a nationwide
computerized network of apprenticeship information and on-line technical
assistance for employers and unions.
"One of my top priorities is to improve opportunities for good jobs for
women and to equip all working Americans with the skills to find and hold good
jobs," Herman said. "These grants are a positive step in meeting both of these
goals."
Women's Bureau Director-designate Ida L. Castro praised the program as
one that "enables women to earn higher wages and better benefits" than jobs in
more traditional fields. "These women will have access to training, opportunity
and advancement. For many, it is also a path to economic security and self
sufficiency," said Castro.
The WANTO grantees are: 1) Mi Casa Resource Center for Women, Denver,
CO; 2) Nontraditional Employment for Women, New York, NY; and 3) Wider
Opportunities for Women, Washington, D.C. The grants program is jointly
administered by the department's Bureau of Apprenticeship and Training and the
Women's Bureau.
"We are committed to increasing the role of women in apprenticeships,"
said Anthony Swoope, Director of the Bureau of Apprenticeship and Training. "As
our economy becomes more competitive, we must ensure opportunities across the
board for all workers to contribute their talents and skills and for all
employers to benefit from their efforts."
The grants and grantees follow:
- $205,000 to Mi Casa Resource Center for Women, Denver, CO, to
provide on- and off-site technical assistance to employers, labor unions and
apprenticeship programs to strengthen system linkages, particularly linking its
highway construction and maintenance pre-apprenticeship program with sponsored
apprenticeship training, involving more than 60 employers and apprenticeship
programs, while moving many more than 100 women into apprenticeship and
nontraditional employment.
- $205,000 to Nontraditional Employment for Women, New York, NY, to
provide on- and off-site technical assistance employers and labor unions,
particularly those in the telecommunications, utilities and high-technology in
the health industries, including the placement and retention of low-income
women in blue-collar and high-tech employment and apprenticeship, involving
more than 35 employers and unions and 150 women.
- $200,000 continued funding to Wider Opportunities for Women,
Washington, D.C., to complete hardware and software to support the activities
of the WANTO web site in the Workplace Solutions Project: National
Computer-Based Telecommunications Network and Services and Clearinghouse and
its efforts to expand information and on-line technical assistance to employers
and unions to increase the participation of women in apprenticeship and
nontraditional occupations, e.g., specific information on hiring and
integrating welfare recipients into the workplace; on-line services to women
that would also serve as a referral network for employers and unions; on-line
brokering services to employment and training professionals.
The technical assistance grants are authorized under the Women in
Apprenticeship and Nontraditional Occupations Act, P.L. 102-530, and funded
through JTPA Title IV-D.
Archived News Release--Caution:
information may be out of date.
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