Press Release
Aerospace Consortium for Employment
A collaboration of 11 Washington community and technical colleges
Release Date: October 12, 2011
EvCC Contact: Heather Bennett, EvCC Executive Director of Resource Development, 425-388-9253; hbennett@everettcc.edu
Washington Technical Schools and Community Colleges Awarded $1.58 Million for Aerospace Training
WASHINGTON: Thirteen Washington two-year colleges will share $1.58 million in Governor's Investment in Aerospace (GIA) grants to develop fast turnover training in aerospace.
A mix of Gov. Christine Gregoire's discretionary Workforce Investment Act (WIA) funds and state aerospace training funds, the grants are designed to assist community and technical colleges throughout the state develop new training in aerospace industry-identified areas.
In response to the governor's direction of the discretionary WIA funds and the grant RFP, community and technical colleges in Washington collaboratively formed the Aerospace Consortium for Employment (ACE). The consortium's mission is to meet urgent workforce needs with short-term training programs in the areas of precision machining, machine maintenance, fiber optics and quality assurance/inspection. The consortium worked with The Boeing Company to identify areas of immediate need in the aerospace industry and identified two to six month training program opportunities to meet those needs.
ACE applied for and was awarded a GIA grant, which will be applied toward developing programs that retrain or enhance skilled aerospace workers in precision machining, machine maintenance, fiber optics and quality assurance/inspection. Fund allocation and usage vary between the schools. On a whole, the monies will go toward equipment purchase, additional faculty and program development.
Below is a listing of the ACE colleges and their portions of the grant:
- Bates Technical College (Tacoma) $91,229
- Bellingham Technical College (Bellingham) $112,944
- Columbia Basin College (Pasco) $111,232
- Everett Community College (Everett) $114,466
- Green River Community College (Auburn) $167,234
- LakeWashington Institute of Technology (Kirkland) $172,431
- Olympic College (Bremerton) $101,677
- Shoreline Community College (Shoreline) $80,856
- South Puget Sound Community College (Olympia) $53,188
- South Seattle Community College (Seattle) $3,432
- Yakima Valley Community College (Yakima) $38,600
Two additional colleges received GIA grants:
- Clover Park Technical College (Lakewood) $356,000
- Spokane Community College (Spokane) $176,887
For detailed information and interviews regarding individual schools' plans for their grant money, please contact the school directly. Contact information for the schools is as follows:
- Bates Technical College (Tacoma) 253-680-7102
- Bellingham Technical College (Bellingham) 360-752-8325
- Clover Park Technical College (Lakewood) 253-589-6048
- Columbia Basin College (Pasco) 509-547-0511 x2235
- Everett Community College (Everett) 425-388-9554
- Green River Community College (Auburn) 253-288-3360
- Lake Washington Institute of Technology (Kirkland) 425-739-8236
- Olympic College (Bremerton) 360-475-7721
- Shoreline Community College (Shoreline) 206-546-4634
- South Puget Sound Community College (Olympia) 360-596-5214
- South Seattle Community College (Seattle) 206-934-6875
- Spokane Community College (Spokane) 509-434-5150
- Yakima Valley Community College (Yakima) 509-574-6870
For more information on the grant please contact Marie Bruin, at the Washington State Board for Community and Technical Colleges at 360-704-4360.
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