Originally published Thursday, January 12, 2012 at 3:59 PM
County gets $800,000 for aerospace worker training
Under a federal program, the money will go to community colleges to help meet need for more workers.
Seattle Times aerospace reporter
King County has secured $800,000 in new federal grant money to train workers seeking jobs in aerospace manufacturing.
The money will be disbursed to local community and technical colleges starting this spring quarter, for classes that train manufacturing technicians and airframe mechanics in aerospace manufacturing skills such as assembly and machining.
Boeing and more than 650 smaller aerospace suppliers in the state are hiring workers to meet a planned ramp-up of jet production in the region to unprecedented rates. Boeing predicts a need to hire 3,500 to 5,000 machinists each year for the next five years.
The new funding comes from the federal Workforce Investment Act, including money previously set aside to be used by states, but is now available to local areas because of a change in federal law.
King County Executive Dow Constantine, speaking Thursday at the 40th Annual Economic Forecast Conference in Seattle, said the training money was secured by the Workforce Development Council of Seattle-King County (WDC), a nonprofit "think tank" and grant-making organization.
"Our local colleges are at capacity or prevented from expanding their programs by budget limitations," said WDC Chief Executive Marléna Sessions. "This investment increases that capacity immediately so we can start getting people skilled up and into good-paying jobs."
Dominic Gates: 206-464-2963 or dgates@seattletimes.com
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