WASHINGTON, D.C. – U.S. Senators Thad Cochran and Roger Wicker (R-Miss.) today announced a $1.77 million federal grant to support a plan by the East Central Community College (ECCC) at Decatur to expand its job training outreach in five rural Mississippi counties.

The Community-Based Job Training Grant issued by the U.S. Department of Labor is intended to increase ECCC job training capabilities in Leake, Neshoba, Newton, Scott and Winston counties, with a focus on training for advanced manufacturing, health care and information technology.

“This grant is intended to improve the college’s collaboration with businesses and industries to train the workers they need.  East Central Community College will work with a number of partners to expand its ability to offer job training opportunities for more people in rural Mississippi,” said Cochran, who is the ranking Republican on the Senate appropriations subcommittee that funds the Department of Labor.

“I am pleased that East Central Community College will have the additional resources to expand its job training initiatives. This partnership between the college and the community will offer new educational opportunities for Mississippians and provide businesses with a well-trained workforce,” said Wicker.

ECCC will apply the grant funding to its “Connecting College with Your Community” project, which involves expanding distance learning technologies to provide job skills training.  The college intends to use the project to supply education and training to more than 1,600 people, including unemployed, dislocated or incumbent workers.

The Labor Department grant program is designed on a “demand-driven workforce development model” that relies on partnerships between community colleges and employers.  The ECCC job training program will be aided through partnerships with:  District Workforce Development Council; Mississippi Band of Choctaw Indians; Neshoba County Community Development Partnership; Twin Districts Local Workforce Investment Board; Workforce Investment Workforce One-Stop Center; and Winston County Industrial Development Authority.

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