Rendell Administration Celebrates Recovery Act Anniversary, Highlights Workforce Development Success

Recovery Act Delivers $187 Million in Funds to Create Opportunity, Keep Workforce Competitive

SCHNECKSVILLE, Pa., Feb. 17 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- On the one-year anniversary of the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act, Pennsylvania Workforce Investment Board Executive Director Dr. Robert Garraty today highlighted how the state has invested $187.4 million in Recovery Act funds to help create jobs and training opportunities.

"The Recovery Act has opened doors for Pennsylvania's workforce that otherwise would not have existed," Garraty said during a visit to the Lehigh Career and Technical Institute. "The Department of Labor & Industry, its private and public partners, other workforce development agencies, training providers and academic institutions are working together to create and sustain opportunities for Pennsylvanians to achieve career-focused employment in the industries critical to the commonwealth's economic recovery."

Since the Recovery Act was signed on Feb. 17, 2009, the Department of Labor & Industry has received $187.4 million in federal Recovery Act funding. With those funds, the Department of Labor & Industry, private and public partners, other workforce agencies and academic institutions have created employment and training opportunities for thousands of Pennsylvanians.

The Lehigh Career and Technical Institute, which is one of seven weatherization training sites funded through the Recovery Act, is but one example of how Recovery funding is having a positive impact across the state.  

"Training providers, such as the Lehigh Career and Technical Institute, are instrumental in helping prepare Pennsylvania's workforce with the skills they need to secure and retain employment in some of our most important industries," Garraty said. "The eleven-hundred Pennsylvanians set to receive Recovery-funded weatherization training around the state, and the employers they'll be working for, are a great example of how the Recovery Act is making a positive difference for our state and all who live and work here."

For more information about how the commonwealth is using federal Recovery Act funds to help Pennsylvania residents and businesses, visit: www.recovery.pa.gov.

Media contact: Christopher S. Manlove, 717-787-7530

Editor's Note: Details of the $187.4 million in Department of Labor & Industry Recovery Act initiatives, as of Jan. 31, 2010, follow:

SOURCE Pennsylvania Office of the Governor