Missouri
Program | # of Grants | EDA Funds |
---|---|---|
Economic Adjustment Assistance | 1 | $318,873 |
Public Works | 4 | $4,261,249 |
Regional Innovation Program | 1 | $300,000 |
Technical Assistance | 4 | $530,431 |
Trade Adjustment Assistance | 1 | $1,041,660 |
Planning | 18 | $1,037,000 |
Grand Total | 29 | $7,489,213 |
St. Louis, MO - The St. Louis area has been hit hard by automotive industry layoffs in recent years which led to the loss of more than 6,000 jobs and total direct wages of about $900,000,000. Local machine shops and manufacturers are struggling to find skilled workers for their vacant positions and the shortage of skilled workers continues to grow due to an aging workforce with advanced manufacturing skills.
In August 2017, EDA invested $2,355,418 in Public Works funds to Ranken Technical College located in the north central part of St. Louis, to demolish an existing warehouse and prepare the property for construction of a new 26,000 square foot prefab/shell building to house Manufacturing Inc.-St. Louis, to implement an advanced manufacturing program. The facility will provide technical education in the automotive, architecture, construction, electrical, information technology and manufacturing sectors. The College is in need of expanding its operations to provide training and incubator space for students that would include modern manufacturing skills, new ideas, technologies, and enterprises.
The operation will support pre-apprentice/apprenticeship training and entrepreneurial start-ups while directly aligning employer talent/credentialing needs with industry-trained workers. It is anticipated that when fully operational, 100 student workers will generate $4,000,000 annually in products and services for local businesses as part of the integrated work-based learning model. The project is expected to generate $2,350,000 in private investment.