Washington D.C. recently announced a new training program aimed at training workers for a variety of infrastructure-related jobs in fields like transportation, green technology and more.
The DC Infrastructure Academy, which opened March 12, was made possible by D.C.'s partnership with utility companies, unions, universities and private companies, WTOP reported. Funding includes almost $16.7 million from the District's capital budget, as well as $5.2 million from Pepco as a result of its merger with Exelon for workforce development programs.
Of the 2,231 infrastructure jobs available in the District in 2017 (which pay an average of $48 per hour), just 1,246 were filled, said D.C. Mayor Muriel Bowser, and the gap only keeps getting bigger, WTOP reported.
"If [employers] don't have people to fill the jobs to do the work, the work slows down and we can't afford for work to slow down when we're talking about our infrastructure," said Bowser.
With the infrastructure expected to grow 11 percent by 2021 and close to 20 percent by 2026, the Academy, which Bowser called "a pathway to the middle class" for local workers, couldn't have come at a better time.
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