September 26, 2011 in City

SCC lands $20 million grant for aerospace training

By The Spokesman-Review
 
Tags:aerospaceSpokane Community College

Spokane Community College’s Air Washington Program – a consortium of 14 colleges, two aerospace companies and an apprenticeship committee – will be awarded a $20 million grant, the U.S. Department of Labor announced today.

The money is expected to be used for education, training and services to support the aerospace industry, officials said.

“SCC will receive $5.8 million and the rest will be shared with the other consortium members,” said Joe Dunlap, Spokane Community College president. “We were the lead agency on putting this grant together.”

The grant will go toward curriculum development and deliver training for the aerospace industry, Dunlap said. There are about 600 aerospace companies in Washington, and the program will provide training for those businesses.

“This is fantastic news for workers and aerospace companies in Spokane and across Washington state,” Sen. Patty Murray said in a news release.

The grant is the first installment in a $2 billion, four-year investment.

Although the money can only be used for education that supports the aerospace program, the extra money “does help out during these tough budget times,” Dunlap said.

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Nine comments on this story so far. Add yours!

  • gmorton on September 26 at 11:16 a.m.

    Oh, goody. Another $2 billion tacked onto the national debt. Surely another of those indispensable gummint programs, like the subsidies to solar panel boondoggles, that the nation could not do without. But I’m sure the teachers’ unions will express their appreciation with even larger campaign contributions to Sen. Murray’s next campaign.

    Common sense might suggest that those aerospace companies train their own employees, fold the costs thereof into the prices of their products, and let the consumers of those products – i.e., airline passengers – pay them. Since there would be no bureaucrats involved and no regulatory strings, the cost would be well under $2 billion.

    But we all know free lunches trump common sense every time.

  • misjustice on September 26 at 11:29 a.m.

    It’s a better investment of tax payer dollars than dumping 20 M down the toilets called Afghanistan and Iraq.

    Just sayin’…

    Where’s my tax cut?

  • soccermomsusie on September 26 at 12:11 p.m.

    Right now our own Cathy McMorris-Rodgers is leading the fight to curtail EPA changes which she says would lead to 230,000 jobs at a cost of 21 billion dollars. To put this in perspective, this is three, maybe four, months of war. Even worse, these EPA regulations would spur more job creation in the private sector!

    STOP JOBS = STOP OBAMA. NO JOBS. NO OBAMA. KNOW JOBS. KNOW OBAMA.

    Cathy, we know you are willing to sacrifice us in order to defeat Obama. Thank you. There is no more of a noble cause than this! GOD BLESS YOU!!

    What can else can we do? We can vote for David Condon for mayor, that’s what!!

    If elected, he will ship SCC’s $20 million grant right back to the feds and tell them to stick it where the sun don’t shine.

    I bet Mary Verner is in the middle of this latest bolstering of our local economy and furthering Godless higher ed at the same time. Plus the jobs she probably helped to create… IT MAKES ME SICK!!!

    GWB-CathyMcMoRo-DavidCondon. A royal legacy and foretold in the Book of Revelation!

    HEAR OUR VOICE!!!

  • The_Seer on September 26 at 1:08 p.m.

    gmorton: You forgot “ad hominem, ad baculum, ad naseum” in your latest anti-government, let’s move back to the stoneage harangue.

  • westerly on September 26 at 1:22 p.m.

    Good…more trained workers for Seattle area.

  • Dazzeetrader11 on September 26 at 1:37 p.m.

    Giveaways= votes for the Dems. Timing is odd isn’t it?

  • Hunterman on September 26 at 2:37 p.m.

    And we spend $2 billion a week ‘rebuilding’ Afghanistan and that’s OK? Ya, I’m getting really pissed about our government’s priorities! And where’s MY tax cut?

  • gmorton on September 26 at 6:06 p.m.

    Hunterman wrote,

    “And we spend $2 billion a week ‘rebuilding’ Afghanistan and that’s OK?”

    Nope.

  • de3 on September 26 at 6:06 p.m.

    Years ago, the government was issuing grants to train students in cosmetology - about twice the number of graduates as there were jobs in hair salons!

    How will success of this program be measured?

    By counting how much money is spent? Typical government definition of success!

    By counting how many students start the program?

    By counting how many students graduate?

    By counting how many students get jobs requiring aerospace training? Working in retail does not count as a success!

    Will there even be any follow up?

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