The Labor and Education departments awarded a total of $4.7 million in grants this month under separate programs designed to help smooth the transition from school to work for American teenagers.
The Labor Department awarded grants totaling $2.4 million to 10 projects to support the development of youth apprenticeships. The recipients--partnerships of business, education, and community organizations--are providing an additional $9.2 million for the demonstrations.
“These projects are the latest step toward building a national youth-apprenticeship system,’' Secretary of Labor Lynn Martin said in announcing the awards.
The demonstrations are part of a department initiative launched in 1990. In June, the Labor Department awarded $200,000 to six states for the development of statewide youth-apprenticeship systems.
In a separate action, the Education Department this month awarded $2.3 million to nine well-established school-to-work transition programs. Awardees will use the grants to evaluate their programs so that they can apply for inclusion in the department’s National Diffusion Network, which helps schools adopt programs and practices that have proved effective.
The programs funded involve cooperation between public agencies and the private sector.
Grant Recipients
Receiving Labor Department grants were: Scripps Ranch High School, San Diego, $249,768; Siemens Stromberg-Carlson, Seminole County, Fla., $249,990; Middle Georgia Technical Institute, Warner Robins, Ga., $250,000; Toledo Area Private Industry Council, Toledo, Ohio, $250,000; Oakland Unified School District, Oakland, Calif., $250,000; Flint Board of Education, Flint, Mich., $250,000; Illinois State Board of Education, Springfield, Ill., $250,000; Boston Private Industry Council, Boston, $250,000; Gwinnet County Public Schools, Lawrenceville, Ga., $127,995; and Craftsmanship 2000, Tulsa, Okla., $250,000.
Receiving Education Department grants were: East San Gabriel Valley Regional Occupational Program, East San Gabriel, Calif., $272,590; Boulder Valley School District, Boulder, Colo., $313,893; National Alliance of Business, Washington, $297,290; Valencia Community College, Orlando, Fla., $295,480; Jefferson County Public Schools, Louisville, Ky., $163,879; Central Area Vocational Technical School, Drumright, Okla., $268,674; El Paso Community College, El Paso, $179,199; Wisconsin Department of Administration, Madison, Wis., $95,454; and Milwaukee Area Technical College, Milwaukee, $403,444.