Skip to content
Reading time: 3 minutes
UH Maui College will lead this latest Trade Adjustment Act Community College and Career Training (TAACCCT) grant consortium.

The University of Hawaiʻi Community Colleges received a $10 million grant—Sustaining Health, Strengthening Security in the Aloha State—awarded by the U.S. Department of Labor. This is Round 4 of the Trade Adjustment Act Community College and Career Training (TAACCCT) grants.

The University of Hawaiʻi Maui College will lead this seven-campus UH Community Colleges consortium to develop new training programs and support existing ones to provide pathways that lead to jobs in cyber security and health industries.

The UH Community Colleges consortium proposes to create new entry-level certificates in cyber security and health, providing career pathways for adult workers into two-year degrees in information technology and health. Cyber security training prepares a workforce better equipped to deal with the challenges of an Internet economy, and at a time when concerns about cyber security have dramatically increased. Health training for school health aides and community health workers provides new and incumbent workers with entry-level training for a career in the rapidly changing medical environment.

Funding will be used to develop curricula, purchase simulation laboratory equipment, retrofit classrooms for technology-enabled courses, provide student services and improve data tracking.

“This is a great testimony to the cooperative spirit of the University of Hawaiʻi Community Colleges and with our partners around the state,” said John Morton, UH vice president for community colleges. “This grant allows us to develop programs that are relevant to today’s economy, and more importantly, it will train students in occupations that offer the greatest potential for a diverse economy and an improved quality of life for everyone.”

“Over 40 faculty and staff members from seven campuses worked online together for three months to develop the Round 4 proposal,” said Susan Wyche, director of grant development at UH Maui College. “We also had tremendous support from the State of Hawaiʻi Department of Labor and Industrial Relations, county agencies and the Workforce Investment Boards on each island, as well as many, many partners from nonprofits and the private sector.”

Other partners include Hawaiʻi Technology Development Corporation, Hawaiʻi Department of Education and Department of Health, Waikīkī Health, Lānaʻi Community Health Center, Hawaiʻi Business Round Table, Inc., Four Seasons, Sheraton Maui, Grand Wailea, Manu Kai, Cisco Networking Academy, ʻImiloa Observatory, National Disaster Preparedness Training Center and Servco Pacific to name just a few of the committed community partners.

Previous TAACCCT projects

TAACCCT grants have provided significant investment in higher education and career training for the state of Hawaiʻi in the last three years.

Honolulu Community College led a successful $24 million seven-campus consortium proposal in Round 1. A Rural Hawaiʻi consortium—consisting of UH Maui College, Kauaʻi CC and Hawaiʻi CC—won $12.7 million in Round 2. Two individual campuses, Leeward CC and Kapiʻolani CC also received $2.5 million awards in Round 2 and 3, respectively.

Previous awards to UH Community Colleges have included training in teacher education, hospitality, renewable energy, agriculture, geographic information systems, food innovation and safety, electric vehicle automotive, and water/wastewater treatment.

The TAACCCT grants specifically encourage development of hybrid/online formats, innovative technologies for student learning and assessment, and data collection on the career placement success of program graduates.

The TAACCCT initiative

The $450 million grant program announced by the Vice President Joe Biden, Secretary Tom Perez and Secretary Arne Duncan in a White House press release, awarded job-driven training grants to nearly 270 community colleges across the nation.

The $450 million grant program is part of the TAACCCT initiative, which promotes skills development employment opportunities in fields such as advanced manufacturing, transportation and health care, as well as science, technology, engineering and math careers through partnerships between training providers and local employer.

The U.S. Department of Labor is implementing and administering the program in coordination with the U.S. Department of Education. Learn more about the grant program.

A University of Hawaiʻi news release

Back To Top