A nearly $2.5 million federal grant to Arkansas Department of Workforce Services includes $734,000 in funding for job training efforts based at the University of Arkansas at Fort Smith, the university announced Tuesday.
The Arkansas Job Driven National Emergency grant, funded by the U.S. Department of Labor, will help an estimated 400 people in the Fort Smith area, with grant monies disbursed to several organizations in the state, according to the announcement.
The university will help train veterans and the long-term unemployed in commercial driving, medical billing and coding, or industrial maintenance.
“We’re targeting areas where we know there will be demand for workers,” said Dave Robertson, director of the university’s Center for Business and Professional Development. “What excites me the most is that the Department of Labor wanted the entities that worked with them on this grant to have proven programs in places that could quickly provide job-specific training in areas where they feel people can find employment. Getting chosen for this grant is a confirmation of the work we’ve been doing at the [the center] for years.”
The Western Arkansas Planning and Development District will help find participants eligible for the training. Anyone interested in participating may call the Western Arkansas Employment Development Agency at (479) 474-7061.