The Texas Workforce Commission (TWC) honored Alvin Community College with the Partnership Award at the 14th Annual Texas Workforce Conference in Dallas on Nov. 17.
The award was presented “to recognize the college’s work in assisting employers that need workers with specific skills to meet the demands of a global economy and assisting workers whose skills no longer align with the skills needed for today’s jobs.”
TWC awarded ACC a $2.3 million grant in 2008, which provided over 60,000 hours of training for 1,556 people. Another $1.3 million TWC grant awarded to ACC recently will help provide 17,000 hours of training to over 640 new and incumbent workers in the petrochemical industry.
“These Skills Development Fund grants are used to increase skill levels in incumbent and new workers in our partners’ companies,” said Dr. Jim Kelly, grant writer and manager at ACC. “The whole focus of these grants is to keep existing businesses in Texas and attract new businesses to Texas; increasing the skills of incumbent workers makes their companies more competitive in the global market place.”
The grants also play a more personal role in helping individuals find and maintain employment in higher paying technical jobs.
“These grants are important because they change lives,” ACC Continuing Education Workforce Development Department Grant Administrator Joy Weiner stated. “I have seen changes so often and the telephone calls and notes of appreciation from the grant recipient students are heartwarming.”
“Isn’t this what we love to do?” she continued. “Anytime a college helps a student achieve completion of a training program and become employed with a meaningful job in life is success!”
Training through the grants is provided by ACC departments, industry partners, professional organizations such as the American Society of Mechanical Engineers and other schools such as Texas A&M University.