WASHINGTON, D.C. – U.S. Senators Susan Collins and Angus King announced today that the Maine organization LearningWorks has received $1.1 million for its YouthBuild Bayside program as part of the Fiscal Year 2015 YouthBuild awards from the U.S. Department of Labor.  The LearningWorks Youthbuild Bayside program received the maximum figure allowable under the terms of the grant. YouthBuild is a non-residential education program that provides classroom instruction and occupational skills training for in-demand occupations to at-risk 16-24 year-olds who have been in the juvenile justice system, are aging out of foster care, or have dropped out of high school.
 
“Federal YouthBuild programs provide valuable education and training to our nation’s at-risk youth,” said Senators Collins and King in a joint statement. “This funding will ensure that the program can continue to support its students – the future of our workforce – with the opportunity to learn skills necessary to be successful in the continually changing job market.”   
 
Federal YouthBuild grants are expected to provide classroom instruction and skills training for nearly 4,800 participants nationwide over the course of the next three years. This is the first round of YouthBuild grants awarded under the Workforce Innovation and Opportunity Act, which passed the Senate in July 2014 with support from Senators Collins and King.
 
In May, at the invitation of Senator Collins, U.S. Labor Secretary Thomas Perez visited Maine to discuss their shared commitment to apprenticeship programs and job training. Senator Collins and Secretary Perez visited Bath Iron Works and the Portsmouth Naval Shipyard.

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