The U.S. House of Representatives unanimously passed the bipartisan Strengthening Employment Clusters to Organize Regional Success (SECTORS) Act of 2010 on July 19.
The SECTORS Act (H.R. 1855) would provide grants to establish or expand “sector partnerships” to identify and provide training that meets the sectoral needs of a region’s economy.
Sector — or industry — partnerships are comprised of an industry’s stakeholders, including employers, unions, education and training providers, and local workforce and education administrators.
These partnerships develop plans to grow — or save — an industry, “with a particular focus on building new workforce pipelines where skilled worker shortages exist and transforming the ways existing workers are utilized, retrained, and compensated,” according to the National Skills Coalition (formerly The Workforce Alliance).
PHI Model for Sector Strategy Approach
“The SECTORS Act would, for the first time, establish congressionally authorized funding in support of the kind of sector/ industry-based strategies that have been proven to work for both workers and employers across a range of industries,” said Andy Van Kleunen, executive director of the National Skills Coalition, which helped to develop the bill.
“PHI’s efforts in the direct-care sector, in which it brings together employers and workers to develop strategies for both workforce training and improved working conditions and supervision, has been one of the pioneering models for this sector-based approach,” Van Kleunen said.
Implementation and Renewal Grants
Under the SECTORS Act, eligible sector partnerships could apply for implementation grants of up to $2.5 million for three years and $1.5 million renewal grants for an additional three years. The Department of Labor would administer the grants.
The House bill was introduced by Reps. Dave Loebsack (D-IA) and Todd Platt (R-PA). The lead co-sponsors of the Senate version (S. 777) are Sens. Sherrod Brown (D-OH), Patty Murray (D-WA) and Olympia Snowe (R-ME).
The Senate has not yet taken up the bill for a vote.
“If SECTORS is passed by the Senate, it would create new opportunities to organize local partnerships of employers, unions, training providers and other experts in the direct-care arena, so they could develop workforce strategies similar to PHI’s across a range of local direct-care settings, and leverage new public dollars to help train and retain local direct-care workers for the long-term,” Van Kleunen said.
PHI is among the 168 organizations, including 75 employers, that endorsed the legislation (pdf).
More information on the SECTORS Act is available on the National Skills Coalition’s website.
– by Deane Beebe
