Clark College will receive $1 million in funding from the U.S. Department of Labor to develop a new clean energy technical education program that teaches students how to manufacture and repair electric vehicles, U.S. Sen. Maria Cantwell, D-Wash., and Patty Murray, D-Wash., announced Friday.
The funding for the new program was championed by Cantwell and Murray in the latest round of appropriations bills for the Fiscal Year 2024 passed by the Senate late Friday.
“This new program at Clark College will offer valuable hands-on training experience to manufacturer and repair electric vehicles that student will encounter after graduation — helping ensure that the state of Washington is developing a workforce that can keep up with rapidly evolving auto industry,” Cantwell said.
Murray added: “As we work to electrify more and more of our economy, it’s important that we have a skilled workforce to support our EV fleet and the infrastructure that goes along with it. This grant will help more young people in Washington state get good-paying jobs, cut carbon emissions, and move us closer toward a fully clean energy economy.”
The funds allow the Clark College Center for Clean Energy to purchase tools and equipment necessary to launch the program, including a Class 8 ZEV Freightliner — a zero-emission electric semi-truck — and a new Nissan Leaf and Chevrolet Bolt.
Two other projects funded by the appropriations bills will aid programs in Southwest Washington.
The Cowlitz Indian Tribe will receive $700,000 from the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) to fund a mobile health unit for substance use disorder treatment.
The funds will help pay for salaries and equipment for the mobile health unit, which will allow many more people with opioid use disorder to receive needed treatment, including medication-assisted treatment. The team — consisting of a peer counselor, prescriber nurse and medical assistant — will provide services at key locations in Clark, Cowlitz and King counties to expand delivery and access treatment services where patients live.
The YWCA Clark County will receive $475,000 from HHS for a therapeutic preschool program catered to children who have experience trauma due to abuse or neglect.
The YWCA Clark County Preschool is transitioning to become a therapeutic preschool to serve the most vulnerable children aged 2.5 to 5. The program will work with children who have experienced trauma, specifically child abuse and neglect, in Southwest Washington.
