The Federal Transit Administration (FTA) today announced an award totaling $5 million to the International Transportation Learning Center (ITLC) to support the first Transit Workforce Center (TWC).
Based in Silver Spring, Maryland, ITLC will serve as FTA’s first ever national technical assistance center to help transit agencies recruit, hire, train, and retain a diverse workforce needed now and in the future, FTA said in a press release.
FTA established the TWC to conduct workforce development technical assistance activities for transit agencies with a strong focus on frontline transit worker skill development. The International Transportation Learning Center will forge collaborative partnerships between transit agency management and labor organizations, and create new programs including apprenticeships. The TWC will help address the national transit worker shortage and improve diversity and equity in the transit industry workforce, FTA said.
"Transit workers play a vital role in President Biden’s vision for America," FTA Administrator Nuria Fernandez said in a statement. "This award to the International Transportation Learning Center will help the nation address the transit worker shortage by providing resources to re-skill and up-skill our workforce and will facilitate the green technology initiatives many transit agencies are undertaking."
FTA says the TWC also will help transit agencies develop workforce development programs as they transition to new, climate-friendly technologies, such as low and no emission vehicles; electrification of fleets; transit automation; real-time smart systems; and new service models.
More information can be found on the FTA's website.
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SOURCE: Federal Transit Administration
