(WASHINGTON, D.C.) – Today, U.S. Senator Patty Murray (D-WA) announced that she has secured over $7.3 million for critical investments in workplace, healthcare, and education priorities throughout Washington state. The funding was included in the Labor, HHS, Education, and Related Agencies Appropriations Bill. Senator Murray is a senior member of the Senate Appropriations Committee.
“I am proud to have helped bring funding to a variety of very worthwhile programs throughout our state,” said Senator Murray. “This bill will get health care initiatives off the ground, bring new technology to existing programs, support workforce training programs, and will ultimately make a difference in the lives of Washingtonians.”
Senator Murray was particularly proud of funding she was able to receive for workforce development programs across the state. The programs seek to address workforce shortages through worker development, education, and training. The programs serve a diverse group of professions including: airport workers, nurses, port workers, and loggers.
“When I travel across the state, employers tell me they are desperate to find workers with the skills they need to grow their businesses,” said Senator Murray. “Yet, for the sixth year in a row President Bush has proposed cutting hundreds of millions of dollars to job training programs. This short-sighted approach would eliminate the hopes of millions of dislocated workers, youth and disadvantaged adults who want to share in the American dream. I have worked hard to bring funding to Washington programs that are returning hope to our nation’s workforce.”
Now that the bill has passed the full Appropriations Committee it must be brought up for a vote on the Senate floor.
Funding for Washington state priorities include:
Statewide — $1.6 million
CHOICE Regional Health Network — $200,000
These funds will be used for CHOICE Regional Health Network’s new Emergency Care Center Case Coordination Program in a five-county region of rural Washington State. The innovative program will help reduce inappropriate emergency room use by 25% and create better health outcomes for at least 2,500 of the region’s most vulnerable residents.
MAVIN Foundation — $200,000
These funds will be used to help expand the Mixed Race Action Plan on mental and physical health issues emphasizing three regions where mixed race populations are significant.
Port Security Training Program — $200,000
These funds will be used to develop a module to train long shore workers on the West Coast to meet new security requirements and other responsibilities associated with the future passage of the Murray-Collins GreenLane Maritime Cargo Security Act.
Jumpstart — $250,000
These funds will go towards Jumpstart’s “One Child at a Time” project in Seattle and Spokane. This project partners Gonzaga University and University of Washington students with Head Start and early childhood centers for low-income children to provide a one-to-one mentoring program. Over 150 University student mentors will read to children and facilitate parental involvement in early childhood education, as well as provide literacy skills to parents where relevant. The investment of more than 28,000 hours of individual attention devoted by university mentors will allow nearly 1000 of Washington’s most disadvantaged preschoolers to develop.
Child Care Resource and Referral Network — $750,000
These funds will go towards the Washington State Child Care Resource & Referral Network. This program provides a new system for evaluating and publicizing the quality of child care facilities, will assist child care facilities in improving their quality, and will provide incentives for facilities to serve low-income families. The Child Care Resource & Referral Network will allow families all over Washington State to make informed decisions regarding child care based on a variety of factors including learning environment, adult-to-child ratio, training and education of providers, and delivery of comprehensive pre-school services.
Seattle/Tacoma – $2.35 million
Health Work Force Institute — $500,000
Seattle WA
These funds will be used to develop and implement a health workforce diversity recruitment and worker development initiative for incumbent workers, unemployed persons, and youth to ease the workforce shortage, increase diversity in health careers, reduce health disparities, and reduce high unemployment in minority populations.
Deaf Blind Service Center — $300,000
Seattle, WA
These funds will be used for the National Support Service Providers (SSP) Pilot Project run by the Seattle-based Deaf Blind Service Center. This highly innovative program assists the deaf-blind community in job-related tasks as well as everyday activities by lowering communication barriers and increasing accessibility of transportation, educational materials, and general information about their surroundings. The funding would allow the Deaf Blind Service Center in Seattle to train 65 more SSPs.
Seattle Cancer Care Alliance — $700,000
Seattle, WA
These funds will be used for the purchase of equipment for a Mobile Mammography Center to increase access to digital mammography for more women throughout the Northwest, especially to those living in underserved areas.
Port Jobs, in partnership with South Seattle Community College — $100,000
Seattle, WA
This funding will go towards the Port Jobs program which operates in partnership with South Seattle Community College. The funding will go towards developing a pilot project to help entry-level airport workers advance toward economic self-sufficiency. Through this program airport workers will have access to the education and training they need to move towards higher paying jobs.
Northwest Hospital and Medical Center Community Health Education and Simulation Center (CHESC) — $750,000
Seattle, WA
This funding will go towards a hands-on training center using state-of-the-art equipment and simulation mannequins for practicing, and would optimize medical procedures and life saving techniques.
Child Care Resource and Referral Network — $750,000
Tacoma, WA
These funds will go towards the Washington State Child Care Resource & Referral Network. This program provides a new system for evaluating and publicizing the quality of child care facilities, will assist child care facilities in improving their quality, and will provide incentives for facilities to serve low-income families. The Child Care Resource & Referral Network will allow families all over Washington State to make informed decisions regarding child care based on a variety of factors including learning environment, adult-to-child ratio, training and education of providers, and delivery of comprehensive pre-school services.
Southwest — $100,000
Southwest Washington Workforce Development Council — $100,000
Vancouver, WA
This funding will be used to match mentors from the business community with SW WA AP teachers and students with an emphasis on math and science. Mentors will meet monthly with their students to assist them in their coursework, to share real life and business applications of the subject matter, and to spur students toward additional education, training and career opportunities related to the subject matter.
Central — $550,000
Mattawa Community Medical Clinic — $400,000
Mattawa, WA
These funds will be used to complete construction of a new Rural Health Clinic to better serve a growing community that primarily consists of uninsured and Medicaid patients.
Tri County Workforce Development Council — $150,000
Yakima, WA
This funding would allow small to mid-size manufacturers in plastics, rolled steel, aerospace, and composite technology to take advantage of incumbent training in production efficiency, flow process control, and the elimination of waste, time, material, and space in the product stream. It would also allow small to mid-sized food processors to link with education partners to create short-term incumbent courses in hydraulics, instrumentation, ammonia refrigeration, and process controls. This funding request will allow incumbent worker training to be provided to 60 employers, and anticipates 400 workers will receive training in a two year period.
Eastern — $2 million
Washington State University College of Nursing — $1.5 million
Spokane, WA
These funds will be used to augment the facility/laboratories and equipment/technology in a new WSU nursing education facility to increase the quality and quantity of nurses educated in Washington state.
Washington State University — $500,000
Pullman, WA
These funds will go towards Washington State University’s Center for the Recruitment, Promotion and Advancement of Women in Science and Engineering program. This funding will provide mentorship, as well as professional and academic support, for women pursuing science and engineering fields. It will also work towards recruiting women to pursue the pure and applied sciences. This program will serve as a model for universities all over the country that struggle to recruit and retain women in these technical fields.
Northwest — $125,000
Northwest Washington Electrical Industry Joint Apprenticeship and Training Committee — $125,000
Mount Vernon, WA
These funds will be used to recruit and train new workers, and to update the skills of incumbent workers in response to new technologies needed to assemble the Boeing Dreamliner and infrastructure projects like Brightwater. Specifically the funding will be used for additional classroom instructors, to upgrade existing equipment, and to purchase additional training equipment specific to the industry.
Tri Cities — $500,000
Pacific Northwest National Laboratory $500,000
Richland, WA
This funding will help the PNNL accelerate the search for the low abundance proteins (biomarkers) that may be early indicators of breast cancer and cardio-vascular disease and may lead to better diagnostics and treatments for such diseases.
Olympia — $100,000
Pacific Mountain Workforce Development Council — $100,000
Lacey, WA
This funding will allow loggers to be trained in the new prescriptions (cutting requirements, selective logging, etc.) and will train restoration crews that will perform restoration work after logging; training up to 8 local logging crews, 25 contract loggers, and up to twenty restoration workers, from Lewis County, in order to provide family wage jobs.
TOTAL FUNDING SECURED FOR WASHINGTON STATE: $7.325 MILLION
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