Pueblo secures big grant to help workers hurt by the COVID-19 pandemic

Pueblo City Council unanimously approved a grant last week that allows the city to expand training and work-based programs at Pueblo Community College for people adversely impacted by the COVID-19 pandemic.

The Colorado Department of Labor and Employment issued the nearly $300,000 grant to the city. Per the grant agreement between both entities, the city will provide services to unemployed or underemployed people in Pueblo through a partnership with PCC.

The city is also expected to provide recruitment and steps to enrollment and determine eligibility for people who meet the conditions to benefit from the program, such as those who experienced a loss of income, have lost a job since March 2020, or have been unable to continue their education or training because of impacts from the pandemic.

According to the city, target audiences for the program are people who are underrepresented in their industry, veterans, youth, dislocated workers, and justice-involved individuals. The training and work-based programs are expected to “reskill, upskill and next-skill” participants.

PCC will provide classroom training at its campus. Off-campus programs from the initiative will be offered in various ways, including through the college's Mobile Learning Lab, the city stated.

“Accepting this grant will bring additional funding to the community for professional improvement and skill building to disadvantaged individuals and workers in the community,” wrote Scott Hobson, the city’s director of planning and community development.

According to the agreement, the objective of the grant is to provide services and occupational training for approximately 225 eligible people in Pueblo. Most of the training will take place at PCC, though some eligible participants will obtain it at a jobsite, which CDLE officials said could help those employers recruit and retain their workforce.

Financial assistance for childcare will be covered for eligible participants with children. It will be 100% paid during their time learning at the campus or a jobsite and will gradually decrease a few months after they earn employment.

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Pueblo Transit will offer free bus passes to program participants. The grant covers their tuition and book costs.

The occupational areas that CDLE, the city and PCC plan to focus on through the program are truck driving, nursing, construction and manufacturing, among a few others.

In December, Pueblo had one of the highest unemployment rates in the state, though it was still an improvement over what the city experienced a few decades ago. Still, city leaders have previously expressed a desire to better train and develop Pueblo’s youth and those seeking a trade to improve recruitment and retention of them.

Last year, housing and inflation were considered among the factors that were hindering job growth in Pueblo. PCC tailored some of its programs to better address local workforce needs, particularly in nursing.

According to the city’s March economic dashboard report, registered nurse and retail salesperson were the two top positions on a list of the most job postings in Pueblo. Truck driver was another position on the list. All three occupations are areas of focus in the program.

Tatiana Bailey, executive director of Data Driven Economic Strategies, wrote in the March report that job openings in Pueblo increased in February compared to December but that there were “significantly more people unemployed locally.”

“It’s noteworthy that February job openings were pretty much within trend values (in the U.S.), but the number of unemployed people is higher than trend. So, it seems like businesses are still wanting workers, but perhaps the available workers don’t have the skills required,” Bailey wrote in the report.

Chieftain reporter Josué Perez can be reached at JHPerez@gannett.com. Follow him on X, formerly Twitter, at @josuepwrites. Support local news, subscribe to The Pueblo Chieftain at subscribe.chieftain.com.

This article originally appeared on The Pueblo Chieftain: Pueblo nets grant to provide workforce training to unemployed workers