WASHINGTON -- The following information was released by the office of California Rep. Lucille Roybal-Allard:
Congresswoman Lucille Roybal-Allard (CA-34) made the following statement today (2/12/10) in response to the below announcement (scroll down for full release) by the Administration of additional Recovery grant funding:
'The Obama Administration's announcement of the latest round of Recovery Act awards is great news for Angelenos and all Californians who stand to benefit from enhanced job training opportunities in the health care field and more efficient and accessible electronic medical record technology,' Congresswoman Roybal-Allard said. 'I'm especially excited about the $3.6 million federal grant for a program in Los Angeles County to provide participants with job training to become Medical Assistants, Pharmacy Technicians and Certified Nursing Assistants. Upon completing the coursework, more than 300 people are expected to enter jobs that fill critical health care needs in the community.'
In Los Angeles, the Youth Policy Institute received $3,623,473. Additional information about the award and the Institute, including local contact information, is as follows:
Headquarters: Los Angeles, CA
Industry and Sector: Health Care (Nursing)
Autoa Impacted Counties: Los Angeles County, CA
Highlighted Participants Served: Unemployed, dislocated, and incumbent workers
Amount: $3,623,473
Key Partner Highlights: Youth Policy Institute (YPI), the Los Angeles Unified School District (LAUSD), Los Angeles County Workforce Investment Board, Los Angeles Valley College, and UCLA
Project Description: The YPI Health Sector Program, founded on a robust community partnership, will train and place participants as Medical Assistants, Pharmacy Technicians, and Certified Nursing Assistants (CNAs). Their comprehensive approach will combine individualized learning plans with 100 hours of basic knowledge classes, adult education, supportive services, and LAUSD vocational tracks in order to ensure that participants progress along a defined career path. At the completion of their training, participants will be eligible to sit for and become certified in their specialty. Additionally, all program completers will have access to career counselors who will
facilitate job placement and retention.
Proposed Outcomes: Over the course of the three year project, 376 individuals will complete vocational training for Medical Assistant, CAN, and Pharmacy Assistant tracks. 320 of those individuals will enter employment positions. Additionally, YPI will develop curriculum and outreach material; to be added to existing LAUSD courses.
Contact: Stan Saunders, 634 South Spring Street, 10th Floor, Los Angeles, CA 90014
ssaunders@ypiusa.org
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THE WHITE HOUSE
Office of the Press Secretary
______________________________________________________________________________
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
February 12, 2010
Sebelius, Solis Announce Nearly $1 Billion Recovery Act Investment in Advancing Use of Health IT, Training Workers for Health Jobs of the Future
Grant Awards to Help Make Health IT Available to Over 100,000 Health Providers by 2014, Support Tens of Thousands of Jobs Nationwide
WASHINGTON, DC - Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius and Labor Secretary Hilda Solis today announced a total of nearly $1 billion in Recovery Act awards to help health care providers advance the adoption and meaningful use of health information technology (IT) and train workers for the health care jobs of the future. The awards will help make health IT available to over 100,000 hospitals and primary care physicians by 2014 and train thousands of people for careers in health care and information technology. This Recovery Act investment will help grow the emerging health IT industry which is expected to support tens of thousands of jobs ranging from nurses and pharmacy techs to IT technicians and trainers.
The over $750 million in HHS grant awards Secretary Sebelius announced today are part of a federal initiative to build capacity to enable widespread meaningful use of health IT. This assistance at the state and regional level will facilitate health care providers' efforts to adopt and use electronic health records (EHRs) in a meaningful manner that has the potential to improve the quality and efficiency of health care for all Americans. Of the over $750 million investment, $386 million will go to 40 states and qualified State Designated Entities (SDEs) to facilitate health information exchange (HIE) at the state level, while $375 million will go to an initial 32 non-profit organizations to support the development of regional extension centers (RECs) that will aid health professionals as they work to implement and use health information technology - with additional HIE and REC awards to be announced in the near future. RECs are expected to provide outreach and support services to at least 100,000 primary care providers and hospitals within two years.
'Health information technology can make our health care system more efficient and improve the quality of care we all receive,' said Secretary of Health and Human Services Kathleen Sebelius. 'These grant awards, the first of their kind, will help develop our electronic infrastructure and give doctors and other health care providers the support they need as they adopt this powerful technology.'
The more than $225 million in DOL grant awards Secretary Solis announced will be used to train 15,000 people in job skills needed to access careers in health care, IT and other high growth fields. Through existing partnerships with local employers, the recipients of these grants have already identified roughly 10,000 job openings for skilled workers that likely will become available in the next two years in areas like nursing, pharmacy technology and information technology. The grants will fund 55 separate training programs in 30 states to help train people for secure, well-paid health jobs and meet the growing employment demand for health workers. Employment services will be available via the Department of Labor's local One Stop Career Centers, and training will be offered at community colleges and other local education providers.
'The Recovery Act's investments are making a positive difference in the lives of America's working families,' said Secretary of Labor Hilda L. Solis. 'The investments announced today will ensure thousands of workers across the nation can receive high-quality training and employment services, which will lead to good jobs in healthcare and other industries offering career-track employment and good pay and benefits.'
The HHS and DOL awards are part of an overall $100 billion investment in science, innovation and technology the Administration is making through the Recovery Act to spur domestic job creation in growing industries and lay a long-term foundation for economic growth. In addition to the 10,000 jobs the DOL grantees expect to fill with freshly trained workers, the health IT extension centers are expected to hire over 3,000 technology workers nationwide in the months ahead. Overall, the Administration investments in health IT and training will help significantly expand an emerging industry expected to support tens of thousands of secure, well-paid jobs nationwide.
A complete listing of the state HIE, REC and job training grant recipients in CA is as follows:
California Health and Human Services Agency $38,752,536
Regional Extension Center Awards: RECs Awardee Award Amount
Southern California Regional Extension Center $13,961,339
Job Training Awards:
Healthcare/High Growth Grant Recipient Award Amount
Kern Community College District (KCCD) $2,768,572
Los Rios Community College District $4,988,561
Mt. San Antonio Community College District $2,239,714
San Diego State University Research Foundation $4,953,575
San Jose State University Research Foundation $5,000,000
San Bernardino Community College District $4,260,863
Youth Policy Institute $3,623,473
Spanish Speaking Unity Council $3,559,139
Additional information about the state HIE and RECs may be found at http://HealthIT.HHS.gov/statehie and http://healthit.hhs.gov/extensionprogram.
Information about other health IT programs funded through the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 can be found here: http://HealthIT.HHS.gov
Information about Healthcare/High Growth Grants, and other DOL training programs is available at http://www.doleta.gov/.
For more information about the Recovery Act, please visit: www.hhs.gov/recovery, www.dol.gov/recovery, and www.recovery.gov.
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