Sep 30, 2014 10:42 AM EDT By J Baulkman, UniversityHerald Reporter

The White House on Monday announced the final installment of $2 billion worth of job-driven training grants.

As part of an effort to train Americans with the skills they need and connect them with businesses that are looking for skilled workers, Vice President Joe Biden and Arne Duncan, the U.S. Secretary of Education, are granting nearly 270 community colleges across the country $450 million in job-driven training grants.

"Many of today's grantees are building on the efforts of past TAACCCT winners, leveraging curriculum that has been developed through strong partnerships between community colleges, the workforce system, employers and industry groups to transform the way they design and deliver courses through accelerated learning strategies," White House officials said in a statement.

The funding is part of the Trade Adjustment Assistance Community College and Career Training (TAACCCT) competitive grant program, which is co-administered by the Department of Labor and Department of Education, Inside Higher Ed reported.

The grants will provide community colleges and other eligible institutions of higher education with funds to partner with employers to expand and improve their ability to deliver education and career training programs that will help job seekers get the skills they need for in-demand jobs in industries like information technology, health care, energy, and advanced manufacturing. The White House also hopes the funds will lead to approaches that continue after the grants dry up.

The grants are related to a broader expansion of federal workforce programs.

"Consistent with the recommendation of the Vice President's job-driven training report, community college grantees in this final round will work with business and industry to upskill thousands of low-wage, low-skill workers and expand competency-based accelerated training pathways to in-demand jobs in information technology, manufacturing, health care, and other fields," according to White House officials.

Building on the strategies advanced in the Workforce Innovation and Opportunity Act, these types of job-driven training partnerships were also identified in the Biden's job-driven training report released in July as an important way to successfully prepare and place workers in jobs that pay a middle class wage.

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