Missouri Governor Jay Nixon addressed a large group at East Central College, Union, on Thursday afternoon. Governor Nixon presented the college with a special Training For Tommorrow grant.

Gov. Jay Nixon visited the campus of East Central College in Union on Thurs., Feb. 4 to announce a $769,000 Training for Tomorrow grant to help prepare Missourians for careers in high-demand fields. East Central College will use the funds to train Missourians for careers in five growing fields.
Launched by Gov. Nixon just two months ago, Training for Tomorrow is designed to educate Missourians for careers in growing industries. These grants will help community colleges create or expand training programs to serve additional students. Over the past two months, Missouri community colleges have worked quickly with local businesses to identify workforce needs and submit applications for funding to the Missouri Department of Economic Development.
“After sitting down with business and education leaders, it was clear that Missouri needed to ramp up training efforts to prepare our workers to compete in the 21st century,” Gov. Nixon said. “As employers begin to hire again, they are going to need workers with training in fields such as health care, technology, green energy and computers. Training for Tomorrow will help get these programs up and running as quickly as possible—to get Missourians enrolled, trained and back on the job.”
Through discussions with business leaders, East Central College has identified five growing industries with a pressing need for trained workers: business, management and technology; culinary arts; health information technology; an LPN-RN “bridge” nursing program; and chemical technology.
Using Training for Tomorrow funds, East Central will develop a variety of new degree programs; expand existing programs into evening/weekend options to fit the schedules of working students; and reconfigure other courses for distance-learning formats.
“Employers in Franklin County have made it clear that they have a pressing need for workers with specific knowledge, training and skills, and East Central College is developing courses to meet those needs,” President Ed Jackson said. “Using our Training for Tomorrow dollars, we will work seamlessly with local businesses to ensure that we’re preparing workers with the right skills to move our economy forward.”
Member institutions of the Missouri Community College Association were eligible to apply for funding under Training for Tomorrow. Funding for the grants comes from the Second Supplemental Disaster Recovery Community Development Block Grant, a federal program to assist with economic recovery efforts.
The grants were competitive, and colleges were expected to provide significant detail in their applications, including:
* Outlining the specific actions they will take to expand the capacity of high-demand programs.
* Detailing the market demand for the programs, both by students and employers.
* Identifying partners from business and industry who can help design the programs.
* Aligning the expansion of these programs with local economic-recovery efforts.
* Showing that the expansion will create or add pathways to specific high-demand careers in the local market.
* Drafting an implementation plan for the programs.
Training for Tomorrow grants for community colleges across Missouri are being finalized. Gov. Nixon will visit additional colleges in the coming days to announce further Training for Tomorrow funding.