TVCC and JET Grants offer hope for local school districts
(Photo: TVCC President Jason Morrison and TWC Commissioner Alberto Treviño lll present Kemp ISD’s check to KISD Superintendent Dr. Joshua Garcia.)
Press release
Five school districts were awarded nearly $1.4 million in Regional Jobs and Education for Texans (JET) Grants at the TVCC Pauline Knight Perkins Auditorium in Athens on Wednesday, Sept. 27.
The JET program provides grants to purchase and install equipment for the development of career and technical education (CTE) courses or programs that lead to a license, certificate, or post-secondary degree in a high-demand occupation, according to twc.texas.gov.
“Today is about partnerships,” TVCC President Jason Morrison said. “Partnerships at all levels from the State of Texas commitment to advancing the workforce in our community and helping us grow economically to our partnerships with our ISDs and seeing the importance of advance education, training, and our students' needs to meet the demands of the future workforce.”
The five grant recipients include Kaufman ISD, Cayuga ISD, Rains ISD, Kemp ISD, all in partnership with TVCC, and Forney ISD in partnership with Dallas College's El Centro Campus. In the first year of the grants, the funding will help train 648 students in high-demand occupations in Mechanical Engineering, Healthcare, and Welding, according to a TWC official.
“These grants will help create a pathway for students to learn a trade for future careers,” TWC Commissioner Alberto Treviño lll said. “The equipment purchased with these grants will prepare students for employable skills, the technical knowledge, and training they need to thrive for the labor force.”
“More importantly, we are preparing our future workforce with the skills needed to excel in technical careers,” Treviño said. “Your [grant recipients] attendance today demonstrates your leadership that keeps the Texas employment and economy stronger than other states.”
These grants will offer students stimulated labs at high schools for a great learning environment, Treviño lll said. These industry-based equipment classrooms help to provide regionally recognized credentials to jump-start their education and careers.
In the past year, TWC has awarded 152 JET grants. The grant program began in 2016 and awarded over $14 million between 2016 through 2022 to support CTE programs across the State of Texas, according to Treviño lll.
State Rep. Keith Bell praised the JET program and the partnership between the colleges, school districts, and the TWC, saying the grants go "into our districts to make a difference for our kids, for our workforce development, for the entrepreneurs that are in this district, and to help provide for a 21st-century workforce."
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(Photo: TVCC President Jason Morrison welcomes the audience to Wednesday’s JET Grant presentation.)