WASHINGTON, D.C. – U.S. Sen. Sherrod Brown (D-OH) today announced more than $400,000 in new federal funding for the Greater Cleveland Regional Transit Authority (GCRTA) for its Career Pathways Program (CPP). The $407,780 award comes from the U.S. Department of Transportation’s Federal Transit Administration (FTA).

“Employers throughout Ohio are looking to fill jobs, but are unable to find applicants with the specific training they need. That’s why Greater Cleveland Regional Transit Authority’s Career Pathways Program is so important,” said Brown. “We know career training is an onramp to the middle class and helps our local economy. This funding will help CPP link northeast Ohioans with accelerated skills training that can lead to internships and high-demand jobs within the transit sector.”

The CPP is a partnership between the GCRTA and Cleveland State University, Cuyahoga Community College, and El Barrio Workforce Development Center – The Centers for Families and Children that aims to boost the transit workforce. The CPP will recruit and train women, minorities, and veterans to join the GCRTA workforce, especially in low-income communities. Training will include accelerated, high-demand electrical and mechanical programs offered at Cuyahoga Community College. This training will lead to internships with the GCTRA and on-the-job training to prepare successful participants for careers with the agency. The CPP will also help Cleveland State University students learn about transit career opportunities.

Brown serves as ranking member of the Senate Committee on Banking, Housing, and Urban Development, which has jurisdiction over transportation funding that supports urban development and public transportation. In the multiyear transportation bill approved by the U.S. Senate in July, Brown successfully advocated for new dedicated funding for workforce development within the public transportation industry.

Brown is working to help ensure that all Ohioans are prepared to enter the workforce through sectors-based skills training. In July 2014, President Obama signed into law the Workforce Innovation and Opportunity Act (WIOA), legislation that contains provisions modeled after Brown’s Strengthening Employment Clusters to Organize Regional Success (SECTORS) Act that would help dislocated workers train for high-tech jobs in their region. The SECTORS Act provisions will promote and require sector-based partnerships to ensure that workforce training programs are developed with industry input and tailored to meet companies’ workforce needs.

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