Boeing grant helps low-skilled adults train for manufacturing careers

SkillUp Washington, a Seattle-based organization that supports workforce development training, has been awarded a $750,000 from Boeing to help low-skilled adults launch manufacturing careers.

The 3-year grant called Manufacturing Advancement Pathways Project (MAPP) will help students in four area community colleges (Shoreline, Renton Tech, South Seattle and Everett) complete training and find employment with area manufacturers.

“We are extremely grateful for Boeing’s dynamic investment,” said Susan Crane, SkillUp’s Executive Director. “This grant will lead to deeper and broader relationships between colleges and manufacturers. This will ensure students get the training they need for successful manufacturing careers and employers have a well-trained pool or workers.”

According to Snohomish County Workforce Development Council data, the aerospace industry is expected to create more than 21,000 aerospace jobs in Washington state.

Under the grant, local workforce training and education organizations will identify common strategies that will help them work together and keep the sector strong; students will receive educational and community supports that will help them stay in school, and college partners will hire manufacturing Navigators who will play a pivotal role in developing connections between students and employers and help students reach their educational goals.

Special focus will be on helping military veterans and women enter manufacturing training programs.

“SkillUp is uniquely positioned to lead the MAPP,” said Crane. “We play a weaver role in connecting low-income students, colleges and employers and in ensuring that mutually reinforcing strategies exist to inform and support the design, quality and productivity of these relationships.”

Other SkillUp grant partners include the Manufacturing Industrial Council, City of Seattle (Pathways to Careers initiative), Aerospace Joint Apprenticeship Committee (AJAC), Apprenticeship and Nontraditional Employment for Women (ANEW) and Workforce Development Councils in King and Snohomish Counties.