A r c h i v e d  I n f o r m a t i o n

       FOR RELEASE              Contact: Nancy Mathis / STW (202) 401-6222        March 8, 1996                     Diane Quinn / DOL (202) 219-8211                                          Kerri Morgan / ED (202) 401-3383

Riley, Reich Announce Local School to Work Grants

WASHINGTON, D.C., March 8 -- U.S. Secretary of Education Richard W. Riley and U.S. Secretary of Labor Robert B. Reich today announced that 37 communities across the country will receive local School To Work partnership grants totaling more than $20 million. The grants, awarded jointly by the Departments of Education and Labor to 22 states and Puerto Rico, will go to communities that have formed partnerships between their education and business sectors to help young people make the transition from school to careers.

"School To Work is one of the most promising examples in America today of a community's commitment to their children's future," said President Clinton. "The linking of the classroom and the workplace is an exciting approach to learning and earning for young Americans. This partnership inspires students, employers and teachers to do their very best. And with our best working for America, we can look forward to setting the pace for global competition as we enter the 21st century."

Including the grants announced today, School To Work dollars have been committed to 81 communities in 42 states and Puerto Rico. Those funds, used as venture capital, develop new methods for making school relevant to real life for thousands of students across the nation.

Since May of 1994, when President Clinton signed the School to Work Opportunities Act into law, more than 42,000 employers have formed School To Work partnerships with educators, parents, students, organized labor and community organizations. Businesses that cannot find employees with strong academic and job skills are recognizing that School To Work provides answers to this problem.

"School to Work gives high school students the tools to apply what is learned in the morning at school directly to what is earned in the afternoon," Reich said. "This will give a new generation of Americans the opportunities their parents and grandparents had before them -- to earn their way into the middle class ... to achieve the American dream."

"School to Work joins the concepts of high academic standards, real-life curriculum and work-based learning experiences to prepare our young people for the challenges of living and working in today's competitive, technologically driven environment," Riley said. "Simply put, it's schooling that works."

The administration awarded the grants on a competitive basis from 215 applications submitted nationwide. In the coming weeks, exact grant amounts will be determined by the scope of the proposed initiatives and size of the communities.

These awards were funded by STW dollars appropriated in 1995. Under current budget proposals which could drastically reduce 1996 School To Work funds, no new state or local grants would be awarded next year, despite great interest to begin school-to-work programs. Investment in states and communities currently participating also would be reduced or eliminated.

NOTE TO EDITORS: A list of communities receiving grants is attached.

School to Work Grantees

Alaska

Anchorage School District (Anchorage)

Arizona

Pima and Santa Cruz Counties STW System (Tucson)

California

Los Angeles County Office of Education (Downey)
East Bay School-to-Career Partnership Project (Hayward)
Napa County Office of Education (Napa)
Orange County Department of Education (Orange County)
Sacramento Regional School-to-Career Alliance (Sacramento)
Workforce Silicon Valley (Santa Clara)
East San Gabriel Valley Regional Occupational Program (West Covina)

Colorado

Front Range Consortium STW Initiative (Boulder County)

Florida

Seminole County STW Partnership (Sanford)

Illinois

Mid-River South Regional Partnership Coalition (Benton)
Chicago STW Opportunity Program (Chicago)
Northwest Suburban Career Cooperative (Palatine)

Indiana

Career Connection (Fort Wayne)

Kansas

South Central Kansas Partnership (Arkansas City)

Maryland

The Mayor's Office of Employment Development (Baltimore)

Minnesota

Anoka County STW Partnership (Blaine)
Lake County Service Cooperative (Fergus Falls)
Minneapolis Public Schools School to Work Transition Consortium (Minneapolis)
Stearns-Benton Employment and Training Council (St. Cloud)

Missouri

Columbia Chamber of Commerce (Columbia)

Nebraska

STW Of Lincoln (Lincoln)

New Mexico

Albuquerque Hispano Chamber of Commerce (Albuquerque)

Ohio

Miami University of Ohio (Hamilton)

Pennsylvania

Greater Johnstown CTC (Johnstown)
The Southwestern Pennsylvania STW Opportunity System (Pittsburgh)

Puerto Rico

University of Puerto Rico, Caribbean Basin Local Partnership (San Juan)

Rhode Island

Local School- to-Work Partnership for Warwick (Warwick)

South Carolina

Charleston County School District (Charleston)

Tennessee

Blount/Knox STWO Initiative to Integrate (Knoxville)

Texas

Texas Region V Education Service Center (Beaumont)
Gladewater County Line Independent School District (Gladewater)
Concho Valley STW Partnership (San Angelo)

Washington

Green River Community College (Auburn) Seattle Public Schools (Seattle)

Wyoming

Campbell County School District (Gillette)

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