Listen To This Story
Unemployed and underemployed Nebraskans impacted by the pandemic have a unique opportunity to change their careers with little to no expense through 16-million dollars in job training scholarships. The opportunities are offered at all community colleges in Nebraska.
The Workforce Retraining Initiative is funded with money from the federal CARES act and is administered by the Nebraska Department of Economic Development. Dr. Cyndi Hanson is the dean of workforce development at Northeast Community College in Norfolk, Nebraska. She said this opportunity is very important to the community they serve.
"This is an opportunity for them to re-tool and re-skill so that they can change careers into a career field that might be a little bit more stable," Hanson said. "So it's a great opportunity for us to reach working adults who maybe don't have the means to be able to go to school full time, for an extended period of time, but be able to get in a short term program that very quickly prepares them for a high demand, high skilled job."
There are many different opportunities, from administrative assistant, customer service, construction, healthcare and more. If eligible, some scholarships recipients may receive financial support for childcare, transportation, and required books. Scholars can also request to continue their unemployment benefits while participating in the program.
Hanson said the application deadline is only weeks away.
"I would just encourage people to apply sooner rather than later. The scholarship program does expire at the end of October, but some of our programs have a limited enrollment capacity," Hanson said. "The faster we get started on that process, the more likely you are to be able to be a recipient of one of those scholarships."
So far, over 1,500 scholarships have been awarded under the initiative. For more information visit http://getnebraskagrowing.nebraska.gov/.