BlackRock Foundation awards $13 million to 15 skilled trades training groups in its first national round
The grants, announced Oct. 1, are the first from a $25 million open call that drew more than 1,000 applications. The foundation says they will help more than 5,400 people in 26 states train for trades such as electrical work, welding and HVAC.
New York. The BlackRock Foundation said on Oct. 1 that it is awarding more than $13 million to 15 organizations that prepare people for careers in the skilled trades. They are the first grants from the national open call of BlackRock Future Builders, the foundation's $100 million workforce initiative, and the foundation said the programs will reach more than 5,400 people in 26 states.
The money is the first of two funding cycles of a $25 million request for proposals that was open from June 1 to July 10. It offered two-year grants of $500,000 to $1 million each. More than 1,000 organizations from all 50 states, Washington, D.C., and U.S. territories applied, asking for more than $900 million in all, BlackRock said in August. Jobs for the Future, a Boston workforce nonprofit, ran the application process and helped review the proposals.
Who received grants
The recipients are Canton Electrical JATC in Ohio; Goodwill Arkansas; Goodwill of Middle Georgia and the CSRA; the Greater Sarasota Chamber of Commerce Foundation in Florida; Heavy Metal Summer Experience and Helmets to Hardhats, both national; Iron Workers International in Texas; Louisiana Parole Project; Mitchell Technical College Foundation in South Dakota; National Veterans Transition Services, for its REBOOT program, in California; the North Carolina Business Committee for Education, with Careers Electric; Nontraditional Employment for Women in New York; The Regional Development Corporation in New Mexico; three California electrical training programs together, the Sacramento Area Electrical JATC, the Alameda County Electrical JATC and the San Joaquin Electrical Training Institute; and University at Buffalo Business & Entrepreneur Partnerships in New York.
They include union training centers, chambers of commerce, colleges and community nonprofits, some serving women, veterans, formerly incarcerated people and tribal communities. They will expand apprenticeships and pre-apprenticeships, introduce young people to the trades and help workers earn industry-recognized credentials in more than a dozen trades, among them electrical work, construction, HVAC, welding, plumbing, pipefitting and heavy equipment operation.
The announcement does not give the size of each grant. Goodwill Arkansas, of Little Rock, said its grant is $850,000, the largest privately funded grant it has received, Talk Business & Politics reported. It will pay for tuition-free welding and construction training for 220 people in central and Northwest Arkansas at The Academy at Goodwill.
What comes next
BlackRock has not said when the second funding cycle will open. Future Builders began in May with a $30 million, three-year commitment in Texas to train more than 12,000 people for electrical careers, and its stated goal is to train and support 50,000 American workers over five years.
“Employers across Arkansas need skilled workers, and those individuals need accessible training that provides greater stability and opportunity.”
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