More than a dozen Mountain View community members voiced strong support at a council meeting last week for plans to commit nearly $600,000 to support workforce development. Most of the cash will come from federal grant funds.
The bulk of the money will comes in the form of grants to organizations with a range of goals, whether it be empowering Spanish-speaking immigrant women to prepare and sell food items during events or a program that prepares people for construction apprenticeships.
At the May 9 meeting, council members voted unanimously to approve the funding plan for both city-run programs and local organizations that offer workforce development and job training to people who need it in Mountain View. Money from the American Rescue Plan Act (ARPA) covered $500,000 of the costs, while the remaining nearly $100,000 came from the city’s general non-operating fund.
“Thanks to the American Rescue Plan Act, we are investing in our residents who the pandemic hit the hardest financially,” said Mayor Alison Hicks in a May 15 city statement. “We are providing workforce development opportunities in which they can increase their skillset in careers ranging from construction to childcare and, in turn, get higher paying jobs without having to leave the area.”
One of the many initiatives that received funding include the Los Altos Mountain View Community Foundation and Reach SV’s Mompreneur program, which empowers primarily Spanish-speaking immigrant women to prepare and sell food during sporting and cultural events, according to the statement.
“The population we historically and currently serve is low-income, Spanish speaking households,” said Malia Pires, executive director of Reach SV, formerly known as Reach Potential Movement, during the May 9 meeting. “Resoundingly, during the pandemic to current (times), women are asking, ‘How can we sell our food? We need jobs, we want to work.’ They’re here to tell you about what they’d like to do.”
More than a dozen women spoke in Spanish during public comment about how the funding for Mompreneur and other workforce development programs will impact their lives.
“It’s been a pleasure to be here joining these beautiful mamas, these wonderful moms, who come to us for service and now they express their life stories with us,” said Amadeni Guzman of Reach SV, who helped with translation.
The funding will help Reach SV to provide their clients with “hope, a time to recover, confidence and also to be unafraid,” Guzman said.
Here’s how the roughly $600,000 in funding will be distributed, according to the city statement:
• About $170,000 of the approved funding will go to workforce development programs run through the library, including: Career Online High School, in which “participants can earn an accredited high school diploma and credentialed career certificate at the same time”; Universal Class, which allows library users to access more than 500 online courses; and Brainfuse’s Jobnow, which gives people live online career coaching services.
• Working Partnerships USA will receive $100,000 for its apprenticeship preparation program, which “can lead to opportunities for skilled construction careers.”
• The Mountain View Los Altos Union High School District and Mountain View Whisman School District will receive a combined $77,900 “for the establishment of a cross-generational literacy program in the schools.
• Foothill College will receive a total of $64,000 to fund its Career Exploration Day, a career fair for Mountain View residents interested in the building trades, as well as its Child-Care Provider Career Development Program, which includes courses “specifically designed for nannies in child development and early care.”
• NOVAworks will get $50,000 for its Whole Person Initiative, which “provides career counseling, training and placement opportunities, and wraparound support for extremely low-income families.”
• Los Altos Mountain View Community Foundation and Reach Silicon Valley will receive $75,000 to help fund the Mompreneur program
• The Day Worker Center of Mountain View will get a total of $60,000 to fund its gardening skills, basic technology and bicycle repair training programs
