Friday 29th March 2024

With hundreds of thousands of Missourians unemployed due to COVID-19, investing in the state’s workforce is essential to economic recovery. The Office of Workforce Development launched its Return Strong initiative to help Missourians skill up and get back to work, and to safely and responsibly reopen the public workforce system. Governor Parson included $1 million to be distributed to the Office of Workforce Development and Local Workforce Development Boards to support Missourians safely resuming in-person job search assistance at Job Centers across the state.
Un- and underemployed Missourians can access job training funds through Return Strong. The funds announced today include $6.7 million toward additional job training funds to help displaced workers skill up and return to the workforce stronger than when they left it, $2 million to train Missourians for high-demand positions in information technology, and $1 million for the Fast Track Workforce Incentive Grant. $8.7 of these funds will come from the Coronavirus Relief Fund and $1 million will come from the Governor’s Emergency Education Relief Fund in the CARES Act.
COVID-19 forced higher education institutions to move classes online in the spring. $80 million has been allocated to support colleges, universities and students. These funds will be used to reimburse public institutions for costs associated with preparing to return to in-person instruction and campus life in the fall. These funds will also come from the Coronavirus Relief Fund in the CARES Act.
The Governor also announced his plans for the Governor’s Emergency Education Relief (GEER) Fund, which is part of the CARES Act and brought $54.6 million to the state to strengthen the education entities that were most significantly impacted by coronavirus and/or essential for carrying out emergency educational services. The Governor has allocated $23.6 of the GEER Fund to public colleges and universities to support:

    • Staff, infrastructure and technology to support distance education, or remote learning;
    • Academic support for libraries, laboratories, and other academic facilities;
    • Institutional support for activities related to personnel, payroll, security, environmental health and safety, and administrative offices; and/or
    • Student services that promote a student’s emotional and physical well-being outside the context of the formal instructional program.

In MDHEWD’s 2020 After-Action Report on the rapid transition to online learning, colleges and universities consistently ranked internet connectivity issues as among their most significant challenges. $10 million dollars has been allocated in support of expansion of remote learning capabilities. These funds will allow MDHEWD to reimburse public colleges and universities for costs that address these issues.
All of the aforementioned funds will come from the Coronavirus Relief Fund in the CARES Act.