Southwest Colorado Community College just received a large boost toward providing focused workforce training in the Four Corners by way of a $2.4 million federal grant designed to address unemployment and underemployment in Colorado.

The local school’s windfall is part of a $17.2 million grant awarded to the Colorado Online Energy Training Consortium from the U.S. Department of Labor. The consortium is comprised of 14 schools in the Colorado Community College System, plus two other community colleges in the state. SCCC’s parent college, Pueblo Community College, is part of the consortium. The grant awarded to SCCC was the largest share of any college in the state.

SCCC first applied for the grant in January, putting together an ambitious plan to use mobile learning labs to provide accelerated education and skills training to individuals seeking employment in the energy industry. Though the details of the three-year grant have not yet been worked out, school officials anticipate both the East and West campuses of SCCC will benefit from the funds.

“The grant is going to benefit people who want to go into mining or the oil and gas industry and there is more mining in the West Campus service region and more oil and gas in the East Campus service region,” said SCCC Operations Coordinator Teresa Malone, in a phone interview Thursday. “The funding will most likely serve a combination of training at both sites.”

The funding that will be funneled to Southwest Colorado will allow the school to create specialized, intensive training for energy workers. Three mobile learning labs will become part of the curriculum at SCCC: welding, mechanical skills, and electrical systems. The labs will allow the school to offer training for industry employees on the job site, providing more flexibility for training and education.

The labs will also allow those seeking employment to pursue training on specific skills and systems, rather than completing an entire series of courses to earn a certificate that may be more than what they need to find a job.

“The mobile learning labs are really great tools,” Malone said. “We have four at our Pueblo campus and they have received national recognition by the U.S. Secretary of Labor. Replicating that for our area is a huge asset to the college.

The grant proposal was greatly influenced by industry feedback, and school officials believe the program fills a need in the area.

“We want to do this because we feel it meets a need in the industry,” Malone said. “This is a gap we can fill and the grant will help us do that.”

In addition to the mobile learning labs, the grant will also provide for a full-time career coach at the college and a basic skills accelerating learning program, two more tools designed to aid those seeking employment.

“Sometimes someone comes in and needs some really very basic foundational math skills or reading skills and if they actually enroll in college it can take a semester or even longer to get up to speed,” Malone said. “This project has a focus of accelerating that for workers but teaching them what they need to know. It is a tool that hones in on the skills they need. It is a way of the college addressing those specific skill sets that individuals are looking for. It’s not for the student looking for an associate’s degree and moving on, it is for those who want to get the skills quickly and get employed.”

The career coach will also help with employment, helping to match students with available positions in industries related to their training and skill sets.

Planning is underway to begin implementing the grant, according to a written statement from the college. Training activities are expected to begin in early 2012.

On the Net: Southwest Colorado Community College, www.pueblocc.edu/Campuses/SCCC.

Reach Kimberly Benedict at kimberlyb@cortezjournal.com