OSIT, through STEM Workforce Talent Pipeline Grants, seeks to strengthen partnerships between industry, secondary education, and postsecondary education and workforce development resulting in sustainable training programs that provide in-demand, industry-recognized STEM training, skills, and credentials to students and lead to full-time jobs in STEM industries. The overarching goals of the grant program are to:
- Increase the number of students that earn STEM industry-recognized credentials shortly after high school graduation leading to entry-level employment in high-skill, high-wage, in-demand STEM industry sectors;
- Create a seamless transition from high school to postsecondary education that leads to increased STEM credential attainment among all students, but especially those students from underrepresented groups;
- Create sustainable and scalable models of secondary + postsecondary + industry partnerships that create talent pipelines to meet the needs of industry within the region; and
- Create systemic change by improving partnerships between colleges, school districts, and regional employers.
Applicants were required to form a consortium made up of the following three entities: 1) a public high school or public school district, 2) a public or private postsecondary workforce development or education institution or provider, and 3) at least one employer. The consortium will work together to leverage their collective resources and those of the grant to develop a STEM Talent Pipeline. Employer partners are required to offer a job interview to each program completer.
More information on the structure of the program can be
found in the Request for Applications document linked below.
Grant Information
University of Nevada, Las Vegas was awarded $298,153.00 as the project lead for the UNLV Information Technology Workforce Talent Pipeline Project. Project consortium partners include Clark County School District, Codingscape, Las Vegas Valley Water District, Aristocrat, and the City of Las Vegas. The program provides a year-long immersive and accelerated training and paid work experience in the IT fields. Participants engage in college courses, workshops, industry certification preparation, career fairs, project competition, and a structured summer internship with corporate mentors guiding project work. Supporting services include paired peer mentorship, tutor and lab support, learning tracking and assessment, and work portfolio development assistance. Upon completion, students will demonstrate entry-level competencies in all three tiers of the Competency Model and obtain one of the following industry credentials: AWS Certified Cloud Practitioner, CompTIA IT Fundamentals (ITF+), CompTIA A+, CompTIA Cloud+, CompTIA Network+, or CompTIA Security+. Tuition and fees will be covered by the program. The UNLV team leads development and delivery of the project curriculum, coordination of project administration and logistics, including advertising, enrollment, event organization, project website, evaluation, and project sustainment plan, community outreach and funding exploration, and completion of project deliverables and reports. The CCSD CTE coordinator leads cohort recruitment and connection with schools. Codingscape and a community representative co-lead connections to the industry and provide feedback to project administration. Extended employer consortium members guarantee paid internship and job interviews to all students who complete the program.
Great Basin College (GBC) was awarded $24,750.00 for the Secondary Manufacturing Machining Technology Training Program in Pahrump. The project will enroll nine Beatty High School students, who will travel from Beatty, Nevada, and Amargosa Valley, Nevada, to the GBC-Pahrump campus each Friday (35 days total) during the 2023-2024 school year for Manufacturing Machining Technology training. The secondary students will form their own Friday cohort at the Manufacturing Machining Technology program where they will learn manual operated machine tool practices and advanced computer numeric control (CNC) machining operations. Topics within the program include: CNC turning and machining centers, set-up and operation of CNC mills and lathes, and machine computer programming. After Year Two of the program, students will be qualified to receive a Certificate of Achievement or an Associate of Applied Science (depending upon completed coursework). With this credential of value, students will be prepared to enter the workforce for entry-level jobs in mining, agriculture, gaming, manufacturing, welding fabrication, robotics, and aerospace.