The Ohio Manufacturers’ Association (OMA) and the State of Ohio have been awarded a three-year, $23.5 million federal grant through the U.S. Economic Development Administration’s Good Jobs Challenge program. Some of the money will go towards the state’s sector partnership for Broadband and 5G workforce development that the Wireless Infrastructure Association (WIA) leads as the industry intermediary alongside The Ohio State University.
The $500 million Good Jobs Challenge initiative aims to get Americans back to work by strengthening workforce partnerships that lead to well-paying jobs. The OMA-State of Ohio proposal is one of 32 grants funded nationwide.
In recent years, the OMA has helped establish a statewide network of industry sector partnerships. With the resources from the Good Jobs Challenge grant, each partnership will receive up to $930,000 to carry out various elements of the program.
In addition to focusing on skilled manufacturing positions, the OMA-State of Ohio award includes funding to support Ohio’s Broadband and 5G Sector Partnership, which is housed at The Ohio State University and led by WIA. The funding support from this proposal will focus on costs related to starting and scaling broadband and 5G education and training programs across the state.
Broadband and 5G are expected to create more than 107,000 jobs in Ohio this decade. Funding to build the education and training infrastructure for the telecommunications industry will provide Ohio a key competitive advantage, according to a release from the OMA.
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