Mississippi State Receives $1.9 Million in Job Accelerator Grant
October 23, 2013The U.S. Department of Labor recently announced that Mississippi State University and partners will be awarded nearly $2 million of $20.5 million in grant awards to fund projects to accelerate job creation and encourage reshoring of advanced manufacturing jobs that have moved overseas.
MSU's $1,931,935 award is part of the "Make it in America Challenge" made possible through the U.S. Commerce Department's Economic Development Administration, the U.S. Labor Department's Employment and Training Administration and the Delta Regional Authority. Additionally, Commerce's National Institute of Standards and Technology Manufacturing Extension Partnership plans to make awards in early Fiscal Year 2014.
Programs are designed to encourage U.S. companies to keep, expand or reshore their manufacturing operations in America, and to entice foreign companies to build facilities to make their products in the U.S. Led by the university's Center for Advanced Vehicular Systems Extension Center in Canton, the multi-partner MSU proposal outlines a "Make it in Mississippi" program to become one of the leading answers to the economic development challenge.
Clay Walden, CAVS Extension director and principal investigator of the grant, said the program consists of key stakeholders working in partnership to fulfill distinct yet complementary scopes of work. In addition to the state's primary land grant university, program participants include selected community colleges, workforce investment boards, InnovateMississippi and the Mississippi Development Authority. Specifically, Itawamba Community College, East Mississippi Community College, Holmes Community College, Mississippi Delta Community College, Three Rivers Planning and Development District, and South Delta Planning and Development District are playing critical workforce development roles.
To view the full article, please see: Mississippi State University News. Also, CAVS Extension.