Washington Workforce Development News
Workforce Training and Education Coordinating Board
February 2, 2023
WAVE AWARD LAUNCHES: HELP SPREAD THE WORD TO CTE STUDENTS!
The Washington Award for Vocational Excellence (WAVE) scholarship application is open for 2023! The award recognizes high-performing career and technical education (CTE) students at both the high school and community-and-technical college level. The award covers up to two years of tuition, according to the tuition charged by the institution students will attend— with minimum awards set at $4,500 per year, and a maximum of up to $11,700 per year. WAVE is administered by the Workforce Board in collaboration with the Washington Student Achievement Council, which handles the disbursement of funds. The application deadline is March 17. In addition to completing the application, housed on theWashBoard.org, students will need to submit two letters of recommendation and ensure their CTE teacher or instructor signs off on their eligibility via a certification form. See the Workforce Board’s WAVE page for details: https://wtb.wa.gov/wave/
WORKFORCE BOARD MEETS FEBRUARY 23
The Workforce Board will meet Thursday, February 23 to discuss state strategic planning, hear a review on how well the state has met its workforce performance goals, get a legislative update on key workforce bills, and hear about potential updates to federal Workforce Innovation and Opportunity Act policies. More details and an agenda soon. https://wtb.wa.gov/
ERDC LAUNCHES P20W DATA SYSTEM STUDY
The state’s Education Research and Data Center has launched a P20W Data Systems Study to see if there are opportunities to improve the technical tools and processes used to collect, organize, store, and prepare P20W data for analysis. ERDC houses a statewide longitudinal data system of information on Washington students, including data about their experiences from preschool to Grade 20 to the workforce (P20W). This P20W data is collected by data contributors across the state who securely share it with ERDC, so that researchers can conduct cross-sector research that informs policy- and decision-making at the state level and within partnering institutions. For more information about this study, check out the website and one-page handout.
COMMERCE PROMOTES MANUFACTURING GROWTH GRANTS
The state’s Department of Commerce is promoting a grant program designed to increase the number of manufacturing and research & development jobs in Washington. Through the Evergreen Manufacturing Growth grant program, some $2 million in grants will be awarded to eligible manufacturing and research and development businesses as well as organizations defined as innovation clusters in the funding application. Each grantee will be eligible for a grant of $200,000-$400,000. Applicants are encouraged to demonstrate the availability of capital investment or matching funds to support a significant business expansion or proposed cutting-edge development work. Submissions will be evaluated according to their ability to generate manufacturing and research & development jobs as well as their strategic alignment with the state’s key sectors. More: https://bit.ly/3JuDmNL
REGISTER FOR MARCH 9 EMPOWER WOMEN’S CONFERENCE
Registration is now open for the Empower Women’s Leadership Conference in Seattle. The conference is supported by the Construction Center of Excellence at Renton Technical College. Registration info at: https://constructioncenterofexcellence.com/empower -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
It’s Groundhog’s Day! Let’s hope the little furry guy has good news or at least news as compelling as this week’s workforce newsletter! Be sure to share it with a friend (or two)! To subscribe or unsubscribe (we'll miss you), email workforce@wtb.wa.gov.