ABOUT THE READY TO WORK (RTW)® PARTNERSHIP GRANT
On October, 15, 2014 the U.S. Department of Labor published the names of the organizations awarded a portion of a total of $169,771,960 in grants to expedite the employment of workers struggling with long-term unemployment. The grants are part of the Ready to Work Partnership initiative to support and scale innovative collaborations between employers, nonprofit organizations and federal job training programs to help connect ready-to-work workers with ready-to-be-filled jobs.
These grants are part of an administration-wide effort to address the ongoing issue of long-term unemployment. Grants, ranging from $3 million to $10 million, were awarded to 23 partnerships to serve individuals in 20 states and Puerto Rico.
This grant program is designed to provide long-term unemployed workers with individualized counseling, training and supportive and specialized services leading to rapid employment in occupations and industries for which employers use H-1B visas to hire foreign workers. A small percentage of other unemployed and/or incumbent workers may also be served through this program. These grants are financed by a user fee paid by employers to bring foreign workers into the United States under the H-1B nonimmigrant visa program.
PRTEC was Puerto Rico’s unique awardee with a $7.1 M grant that became effective on November 1st 2014 with a duration of 4 years ending on October 31st, 2018.