ETA community projects - project abstractevergreen rural water of washingtonexpanding apprenticeship workforce development for drinking water wastewater operators 2.5 million dollarssenator patty…

The Evergreen Rural Water of Washington (ERWOW) was awarded a $2.5 million Project Grant from the U.S. Department of Labor's Employment and Training Administration under the Community Project Funding/Congressionally Directed Spending federal grant program.

The grant will support ERWOW's expansion of apprenticeship programs to train drinking water and wastewater operators across Washington state through 2026. Key activities include identifying rural utilities needing certified operators, recruiting and placing 10 apprentices per year, providing on-the-job training and certification assistance. ERWOW will also help utilities develop budgets to hire and retain certified operators long-term. Additionally, $1 million of the award will fund the National Rural Water Association to establish and administer consistent apprenticeship standards and address operator shortages nationally. The goal is to develop the next generation of qualified operators as 30% of current operators are expected to retire by 2023 and 50% by 2028.

ETA community projects - project abstractevergreen rural water of washingtonexpanding apprenticeship workforce development for drinking water wastewater operators 2.5 million dollarssenator patty MURRAY36 monthsthroughout washington staterecipient name:project title:funding request:congressional sponsor:requested period of performance : 36 monthsproject location: throughout washington stateproject purpose goals: coordinate with partner agencies identify and hire program coordinatorthe nation and washington state face attrition of the certified operator workforce due to an aging workforce and not enough younger operators to take their place. In a 2018 survey of 650 drinking water operators, washington state department of health learned that 30 percent of certified drinking water operators will retire by 2023, and 50 percent will retire by 2028. This is an unprecedented and daunting loss of institutional knowledge that necessitates speedy action to train workforce replacements of equal skill and capability. Washington states rural communities will be particularly hard-HIT by this looming loss of certified utility operators. IT is much more difficult to find, recruit, and retain trained personnel in rural areas because the labor pool is incredibly small. Our purpose with this grant funding is to train the next drinking water and wastewater workforce through our registered apprenticeship program by providing wage reimbursement for the journeylevel workers providing the on the job supervision to the apprentices . The project helps rural communities with limited financial resources make proactive steps to being an employer supporter of the apprenticeship program. Drinking water and wastewater operations specialists need acquired knowledge and on-the-job training hours to meet requirements to SIT and test for OIT-operator in training, class I, II, certifications. We will target rural populations and utilities serving less than 10,000 in population and in need of certified drinking water and wastewater operators. We have a goal of placing 10 displaced or upskilled workers into the apprenticeship program each year and to coach enrolled utilities on developing financial capacity to recruit and retain the proper number of certified operators required to run their system.subrecipient activities: identify participating utilities identify and recruit apprentice participants test apprentices and certify as operators coach enrolled utilities on how to budget to hire and retain a certified operator program evaluation description and status report of NRWA apprentice training programs in other statesexpected outcomes:intended beneficiaries: number of apprentices successfully completing the program who were washington workforce association enrolled displaced workers, unemployed, or young adults trying to enter the workforce status report of those utilities we provided financial capacity training and which were able to develop a budget to support hiring maintaining a certified operator hire trainersdrinking water wastewater utilities serving less than 10,000 in population.evergreen rural water of washington (ERWOW) will partner with national rural water association (NRWA), which will use part of the total funding award ( 1 million) to fund apprenticeship program managers in other states, in order to establish, expand, and administer workforce development and apprenticeship activities consistent with the national guideline standards of apprenticeship for water and wastewater system operations specialists and address nationwide shortages of qualified drinking water and wastewater operators, especially in rural america.