WASHINGTON – Today, the White House and U.S. Department of the Treasury (Treasury Department) released a playbook identifying key evidence-based workforce development strategies that state and local governments—leveraging support from the American Rescue Plan’s State and Local Fiscal Recovery Fund (SLFRF) program—are using to strengthen their workforces, grow their economies, and address barriers for underserved workers. The playbook highlights nine prosperous state and local case studies, ranging from creating union-registered apprenticeships for underserved workers in Harris County, Texas, to training 2,500 new licensed nurses in Oklahoma to providing childcare scholarships for airport workers in Phoenix. These proven workforce strategies—expanding registered apprenticeship programs, investing in community colleges, and providing supportive services—are developing the skilled, diverse workforce state and local governments can use to connect workers with good-paying jobs from the Investing in America agenda.
“Today’s announcement shows how the American Rescue Plan is providing state and local governments tools and resources to ensure that Americans can get the skills they need to take advantage of the jobs created by President Biden’s Investing in America agenda,” said Deputy Secretary of the Treasury Wally Adeyemo. “The Bipartisan Infrastructure Law, the CHIPS and Science Act, and the Inflation Reduction Act are expanding economic opportunity to urban and rural communities in every corner of the U.S., and the American Rescue Plan’s investments in workforce development are making sure that those opportunities are available to American workers – whether or not they have a college degree.”
The State and Local Fiscal Recovery Fund, authorized by the American Rescue Plan and implemented by the Treasury Department, delivers $350 billion in direct aid to state, local, territorial, and Tribal governments nationwide to support immediate pandemic recovery and long-term economic growth. Recognizing that investments in workforce development projects are significant for future economic prosperity, the Treasury Department is lifting these promising practices for how SLFRF funds can support and expand the workforce. This includes childcare support, which enables more parents to enter and remain in the workforce. To date, communities have budgeted more than $11 billion in SLFRF resources for workforce investments.
Today’s playbook is a vital tool for state and local governments to replicate these high-quality investments, with case studies drawn from successful state and local models across the country supported with American Rescue Plan funds. These approaches, which align with the Biden-Harris Administration’s Good Jobs Principles, will grow our economy in the way President Biden believes it grows best—from the bottom up and middle out, not the top down.
A historic investment in our nation’s workforce with American Rescue Plan dollars is just one of the ways President Biden’s Investing in America agenda is helping to create and sustain millions of good-paying jobs, including union jobs, in communities across the nation – most of which do not require a four-year college degree. Just this week, the Administration announced $110 million in new workforce investments, including nearly $94 million in grants through the new Building Pathways to Infrastructure program to support 34 public-private partnerships and $16 million through the Critical Sectors Job Quality program to enhance job quality, equity, and worker voice in the care, climate resilience, and hospitality sectors.
Today’s playbook on Workforce Investments That Work: A State and Local Guide to High-Quality, Equitable Workforce Development is available here.
