WASHINGTON – The states of Rhode Island and Massachusetts and the Bay State communities of Brockton and Fall River are among the recipients of $41 million in work force development grants announced by U.S. Secretary of Labor Elaine L. Chao.
Brockton and Fall River each will receive $491,666 to design and implement systems that can connect young people who have dropped out of high school to alternative learning opportunities. The grants are part of the Department of Labor’s Multiple Education Pathway Blueprints program, which is providing $2.95 million in funding to six cities nationwide.
In addition, Massachusetts and Rhode Island – along with 14 other states, including New Hampshire – will participate in the $1.6 million Shared Youth Vision Pilot Projects. In the pilot program, the Labor Department and federal agency partners will work with the states to improve employment outcomes by streamlining programs connecting at-risk youths with educational, health and social services.
Both programs, along with several other initiatives, were developed by the Labor Department to try to reduce the nation’s high school dropout rate, currently 30 percent.
