PennDOT is making up to $12 million in federal funding available for this program, with a maximum possible grant award of $500,000 per eligible applicant.<\/p>\n
\u201cOur schools and educational partners are preparing our future workforce, which is why the Shapiro Administration is investing in the many ways that our young people can grow a career,\u201d PennDOT Secretary Mike Carroll said. \u201cThese grants will help schools start or expand programs to expose students to the trades that will continue building Pennsylvania.\u201d<\/p>\n
All Pennsylvania educational institutions are eligible to apply, including public school districts, private schools,\u00a0cyber schools,\u00a0Career & Technical Centers, Youth Development Centers,\u00a0and institutions of higher learning.\u00a0There are\u00a0no regional or residential restrictions within the state, however an\u00a0educational institution\u2019s primary campus must be\u00a0located\u00a0within the state of Pennsylvania.<\/p>\n
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Applications will need to demonstrate collaboration with industry partners such as regional industry employers, organized labor or trade unions, workforce development boards, post-secondary education partners, or community-based workforce entities.<\/p>\n
A 2025 Associated General Contractors of America (AGC) survey indicated that 92 percent of contractors are having a hard time filling open positions.\u00a0Additionally, the National Center for Construction Education and Research (NCCER) projects that approximately 41% of the current construction workforce will retire by 2031. There is also strong demand for more career and technical education opportunities in schools across Pennsylvania. Just in the past month, nearly 100 schools or districts contacted PennDOT about its new Heavy Highway Industry Career Day program<\/a>, which will bring industry presenters and career pathway information to interested schools starting this fall.<\/p>\n The\u00a0grant program was developed following Governor Josh Shapiro\u2019s\u00a0July 2023 executive order<\/a>\u00a0that created the Commonwealth Workforce Transformation Program (CWTP), a first-in-the-nation job training program that provides workforce development investments to ensure companies, contractors, unions, and others who are working to build Pennsylvania\u2019s infrastructure have the skilled workforce they need.<\/p>\n The program is one of the many ways the Shapiro Administration is investing in Pennsylvania workers, addressing workforce shortages across industries with real solutions, and empowering Pennsylvanians to chart their own course and access the training they need to succeed.<\/p>\n \u00a0\u201cCareer and technical centers give students the hands-on skills they need to be competitive in the workforce,\u201d said PDE Secretary Dr. Carrie Rowe. \u201cInvesting in these programs provides more opportunities for students get a head-start on careers that are critical here in the Commonwealth.\u201d<\/p>\n A Commitment\u00a0to Investing in Pennsylvania\u2019s Workforce<\/p>\n This grant program builds upon other historic investments in CTE. Since 2023, the Shapiro Administration has increased funding in Career and Technical Education by $65 million \u2013 nearly 50 percent \u2013 helping to expand access for students, not only in career and technical centers (CTCs), but also through CTE programs right in their high schools. As a result, CTE enrollment has continued to grow under the Administration, with more than 3,000 additional students engaging in CTE and career readiness programming.\u00a0These investments have helped expand access to CTE in Pennsylvania, bringing more CTE teachers back into classrooms, providing students with state-of the art equipment and learning spaces, and better preparing students for success in the workforce.<\/p>\n \u00a0Last year, Pennsylvania earned the top spot among all 50 states in a national study of how schools across the country are preparing middle school students for careers<\/a>. To build on that success, Pennsylvania has joined a coalition of teams from Arizona, Kentucky, Washington, and Arkansas to accelerate efforts nationwide to prepare American students for success beyond high school. The coalition formed from the \u201cExtending the Runway\u201d report that ranked Pennsylvania with the highest possible score for middle school career exploration. Through the coalition, the Shapiro Administration is continuing to lead the way by working with Pennsylvania schools on a new career-readiness program that will put students in an advisory role, focus on hands-on learning experiences, and leverage community partnerships.<\/p>\n CWTP was created to expand opportunities for hands-on job training to support Pennsylvania\u2019s workforce for critical infrastructure projects throughout the Commonwealth and is funded by the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act (IIJA) or the Inflation Reduction Act (IRA). The initiative also ensures that participating Pennsylvanians have the tools they need to succeed by offering supportive services to assist with childcare costs, transportation and professional development.<\/p>\n The CTE grant program is supported by federal highway construction dollars deemed eligible for workforce development initiatives through the IIJA.<\/p>\n For more information on the Pennsylvania Department of Education,\u00a0please visit the website\u00a0<\/a>or follow\u00a0PDE\u00a0on\u00a0Instagram<\/a>,\u00a0Facebook<\/a>,\u00a0Twitter<\/a>,\u00a0YouTube<\/a>, or\u00a0Pinterest<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Harrisburg, PA \u2013 Today, the Pennsylvania Departments of Transportation (PennDOT) and Education (PDE) announced that a new grant…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":203048,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[28,30,29],"class_list":["post-238200","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-pennsylvania","tag-pennsylvania","tag-pennsylvania-headlines","tag-pennsylvania-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/238200","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=238200"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/238200\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/203048"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=238200"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=238200"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=238200"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}