College of Lake County gets job-training grant

The College of Lake County and 16 other community colleges will share a $19 million federal grant to help develop more career-training programs, officials announced Monday.

The grant, from the U.S. Labor Department, benefits a group of colleges called the Illinois Green Economy Network. It will encourage the schools to provide training in green economy industries through traditional classroom instruction and a blend of online and classroom formats, officials said in a news release.

CLC officials will administer the grant. For the work, the school will receive $5.9 million for administrative costs, to implement a statewide online course development and delivery system and to create new career programs in Lake County.

The labor department is awarding $500 million in grants across the nation to fund job training and workforce development for workers who are changing careers.

“We are very excited about the news of this grant and its potential to assist workers in economic distress,” CLC President Jerry Weber said in the news release.