News
Transportation Learning Center is Awarded $5 Million to Launch New National Transit Workforce Center
Posted August 2021
The Transportation Learning Center is excited to announce that it has been awarded $5 million by the U.S. Department of Transportation’s Federal Transit Administration (FTA) to serve as the first ever Transit Workforce Center (TWC) to help transit agencies recruit, hire, train, and retain the diverse workforce needed now and in the future.
“This first Transit Workforce Center will invest in our transit employees, connect our people to good-paying jobs, and help our country tackle the climate crisis,” said U.S. Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg in FTA’s official announcement.
Working with the FTA, the Transportation Learning Center will establish the TWC to conduct workforce development technical assistance activities for transit agencies’ frontline workforce and continue its mission of forging collaborative partnerships between transit agency management and labor around improved training programs, including apprenticeships. This technical assistance center will work to address the national transit worker shortage and improve diversity and equity in the transit industry workforce.
The Transportation Learning Center has demonstrated success with building strong apprenticeship and training programs for frontline transit occupations such as bus operators and technicians, rail vehicle technicians, signals and traction power maintainers, and elevator-escalator maintainers. It has also worked with high school and Career and Technical Education programs on career pathways initiatives, introducing youth to transit careers and providing foundation skills training to facilitate their entry into the transit industry.
The Transportation Learning Center has a long history of working with transit unions and advocating for labor involvement in training. It will build on its experience with training programs for bus electrification operations and maintenance to help transit agencies programs as they transition to new, climate-friendly technologies, such as low and no emission vehicles and electrification of fleets.
For media inquiries, please contact: Karitsa Holdzkom at kholdzkom@transportcenter.org
