ponsoring Agency: U.S. Department of Labor Employment and Training AdministrationProject Officer: Laura Paulen Performance Period: June 2008 – June 2011
Project Summary:
The Community Based Job Training Grants (CBJTG) program is sponsored by ETA to invest in building “the capacity of community colleges to train workers in the skills required to succeed in high-growth, high-demand industries.” CBJTG focuses specifically on the development and implementation of industry-specific job training programs at community colleges to meet the workforce needs of industries such as health care, energy, and advanced manufacturing, among others. Over 200 grants were issued from 2005 through 2008 in three rounds of grant competition, with a fourth round of grants awarded in early 2009. Grant recipients are primarily single community colleges, although in the later rounds of grants, some community college districts, state community college systems and organizations and agencies within the public workforce investment system were awarded grants. ETA contracted with the Urban Institute to conduct an evaluation of the CBJTG program. As part of this effort, Capital Research Corporation, as a subcontractor to the Urban Institute, has assisted with the development and implementation of a web-based survey instrument, which has been administered to all CBJTG to provide a comprehensive picture of the different grant-funded projects and identify grant implementation issues to date. In 2011, the Urban Institute and Capital Research Corporation research team will conduct site visits to eight selected grantees. The focus of these site visits will be to document fully the activities supported with the grant funds, the extent to which the key objectives of the overall CBJTG program are addressed, the nature of activities conducted and products developed, partnerships involved, and implementation challenges and success.
Reports: L. Eyster, A. Stanczyk, D. Nightingale, K. Martinson, and J. Trutko, Characteristics of the Community-Based Job Training Program Grants (CBJTG) Program: Interim Report, The Urban Institute, prepared for the U.S. Department of Labor, Employment and Training Administration, 2009 (available at: http://www.urban.org/publications/412022.html).