The California Innovation Corridor CSA to Lead Multi-Regional Workforce Development Partnership

The California Innovation Corridor
CSA to Lead Multi-Regional Workforce Development Partnership

The California Space Authority (CSA) is excited to announce that it has been selected to be the lead on a US Department of Labor Workforce Innovation in Regional Economic Development (WIRED) grant. Coordinating with the California Employment Development Department (EDD), CSA has established partnerships with 68 industry and workforce development stakeholder organizations in 13 California counties. As part of the President George W. Bush’s Community-Based Job Training Grants initiative, this grant award is designed to strengthen worker training programs and create new jobs.

CSA will lead the program and focus on three key objectives:

Build and Support Sustainable Entrepreneurship: Create new companies and high-skill, high wage jobs by designing a replicable and “sustainable innovation support architecture” to increase innovation and entrepreneurship (7 projects/objectives within this goal area)

Support Industrial Rejuvenation for Manufacturing Value Chain and Supplier Competitiveness: Improve the international competitiveness of the region’s supply chain by developing and executing a “smart supplier strategy” that supports manufacturers, small business and entrepreneurs in adapting to the global manufacturing transformation (4 projects within this goal area)

Develop Technical Talent: Accelerate development of a highly-skilled 21st Century talent pool by creating pilot projects and activities capable of supporting a continuum of math, science and engineering education (K-U), and lifelong learning relevant to the 21st Century technical worker (14 projects within this goal area)

“This project puts CSA and its partnership team on the cutting-edge of workforce transformation,” stated The Honorable Andrea Seastrand, Executive Director of CSA. “Our proposal focuses on high-growth industry clusters that include space and aerospace, advanced research and development, software and information technology, and the advanced manufacturing supply chain. We are pleased that this innovative proposal advanced through the very competitive nationwide selection process, and we thank Southern California Edison and our other 67 partners for their dedication in making this proposal a winner.” For more information about WIRED and the California Innovation Corridor, see the attached statements from the US Department of Labor or visit the CSA website.

For additional information from the California Employment Development Department (EDD) and from the U.S. Deopartment of Labor (DoL) and its Employment and Training Administration (ETA), please click here (PDF, 272 kb).

Posted: the new WIRED section of the CSA website.