March Joint Powers Authority’s MARS Regional Community Partnership wins a $500,000 Pre-Apprenticeship Grant from the Chancellor’s Office of Community Colleges
Manufacturing-Aerospace-Research-Science (MARS) Career Promise Pre-Apprenticeship Pilot Program was awarded a $500,000 grant by the California Chancellor’s Office of Community Colleges. MARS is a regional economic development initiative created by the March Joint Powers Authority, an AMP SoCal partner, to align attracting Aerospace & Defense primes into the Inland Empire with its mission to develop a 3,300-acre regional jobs center. With more than 600 Aerospace & Defense suppliers in the Inland Empire region, the MARS Careers Promise Program introduces an innovative career training opportunity that aligns industry based workforce needs with STEM and CTE training within middle schools and high schools.
The approved program is a partnership between the March JPA, American Aerospace Technical Academy (AATA), Val Verde Unified School District and AMRO Fabricating Corporation. The program will train high school seniors from Val Verde’s CTE Continuation High School in welding, with certifications completed by AATA after ten weeks of training. AMRO will hire students with certified skills upon graduation, while March JPA expands its public and private partnerships to ensure job placements for other program participants.
The MARS Career Promise program will be expanded within six months to include additional school districts and industry partners within the Inland Empire region. The Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) signing party between March JPA, Val Verde USD, AMRO and the American Aerospace Technical Academy on April 27th marked the beginning of new possibilities for workforce development. More importantly, the program will serve as an incentive for Aerospace & Defense primes that are exploring expansion opportunities within the Inland Empire. >For more information on MARS, please contact March JPA at [email protected] or on Facebook at facebook.com/MARSatMarch.
Grace Williams, Economic & Community Development Manager at March JPA, is also AMP SoCal Pillar Committee’s Infrastructure and Site Development Vice-Chair.