Hoyer Announces $4.7 Million Grant for Employment and Training in the Electrical Industry

WASHINGTON, DC – Congressman Steny H. Hoyer (MD-5) today announced that the electrical training ALLIANCE (previously called the National Joint Apprenticeship and Training Committee or NJATC) in Upper Marlboro, Maryland, was awarded a $4.7 million grant from the U.S. Department of Labor to fund the Pre-Apprenticeship Program (Pre-APP). The grant will help fund electrical industry training for skilled workers in this field, including electrical engineers, civil engineers, and network administrators.

"This grant from the Department of Labor will help the electrical training ALLIANCE with its efforts to train workers for quality and in-demand jobs that will strengthen the electrical industry here in Maryland," said Congressman Steny Hoyer. "I'm pleased that the electrical training ALLIANCE has already trained over 350,000 workers from apprentices to journeyman status since its establishment 70 years ago. I heard about the success of programs conducted by electrical training ALLIANCE sites at a Make It In America field hearing I held in July in the Fifth District. This funding will help the ALLIANCE continue its success at producing highly skilled electrical workers in our state. These investments will help make the workforce in Maryland and our country competitive."

The Pre-APP program proposes to serve 1000 apprentices in 5 years (200 each year) from 13 proposed electrical training centers across the United States by building a pre-apprenticeship curriculum based on apprenticeship requirements, creating pre-apprenticeship opportunities for underrepresented populations, and increasing skilled workers for the electrical industry. The grant is a part of $175 million in American Apprenticeship Grants that the Obama administration announced today that will help train and hire more than 34,000 new apprentices in high-growth and high-tech industries while increasing proven programs in construction, transportation and energy in the next five years.

The electrical training ALLIANCE (previously called NJATC) was created as a joint training program between the National Electrical Contractors Association (NECA) and the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers (IBEW) to develop and standardize education in the electrical industry.