Resource Center

This ATTAIN webinar focused on bus maintenance apprenticeship programs and featured Milwaukee County Transit System/Amalgamated Transit Union Local 998 and Jacksonville Transit Authority/International Association of Machinists and Aerospace Workers Lodge 759. Panelists from these transit agencies and labor unions outlined the development process and the final structure of their apprenticeship programs while highlighting how this strategy was implemented and why it works, offering benefits for both the agency and the workforce.

ATTAIN Bus Maintenance 2025 meeting slides

Description: The purpose of the Low-No Program is to support the transition of the nation’s transit fleet to the lowest polluting and most energy efficient transit vehicles. The Low-No Program provides funding to state and local governmental authorities for the purchase or lease of zero-emission and low-emission transit buses, including acquisition, construction, and leasing of required supporting facilities.

The purpose of the Buses and Bus Facilities Competitive Program is to assist in the financing of buses and bus facilities capital projects, including replacing, rehabilitating, purchasing or leasing buses or related equipment, and rehabilitating, purchasing, constructing or leasing bus-related facilities.

Additionally, recipients are permitted to use up to 0.5 percent of their requested grant award for workforce development activities eligible under federal public transportation law (49 U.S.C. 5314(b)) and an additional 0.5 percent for costs associated with training at the National Transit Institute. For applicants proposing projects related to zero-emission vehicles for either program, 5 percent of the requested federal award must be used for workforce development activities.

Read the full notice on dot.gov

Description: With meaningful employment secured, formerly incarcerated people can fully integrate into their communities more successfully and avoid relapse. To help remove barriers to employment the U.S. Department of Labor has announced the availability of $25 million in funding to provide training and employment services to incarcerated individuals before their release from state correctional facilities, or county or local jails.

Pathway Home 6 Grants are designed to help eliminate the time gap between release from prison and enrollment into a workforce development reentry program that leads to skills-based employment. They will expand eligibility to include private non-profit organizations, with a requirement to commit to employing one full-time project manager dedicated to managing the grant.

News release on dol.gov Information page on grants.gov

This Funding Opportunity Announcement solicits applications for the Sate Apprenticeship Expansion Formula (SAEF) grant program. This FOA supports a coordinated, national investment strategy that aims to strengthen and modernize the Registered Apprenticeship Program (RAP) system. The SAEF grant program is intended to better support State capacity and State planning to create new RAPs while also driving system innovation and reform, the Department intends to provide, on an on-going basis, annual funding to all States that apply, as well as an opportunity for States to apply for additional competitive funding.

Information page on grants.gov

Session Description: Providing structured workforce development programs for frontline public transit workers is of critical importance for transit agencies as they work to retain employees, integrate new technologies, and fill vacant positions. Attendees of this session learned how to use funding available to transit agencies for workforce development, such as the additional funding awarded under the Low-No/Bus and Bus Facilities grant program, and heard from agencies about how they have utilized grant funds and other FTA funding to develop and implement training programs.

Moderator:

• Karitsa Holdzkom: Senior Policy Analyst – International Transportation Learning Center / Transit Workforce Center

Speakers:

• Zachary Bodle: Assistant Business Agent Maintenance – Amalgamated Transit Union Local 265 (CA)
• John Bodnar: Director, Office of Transit Programs – Federal Transit Administration
• Jason Macumber: Senior Advisor of Workforce Development and Technology – International Transportation Learning Center / Transit Workforce Center
• Steve Jovel: Operations Manager, Workforce Development – Santa Clara Valley Transportation Authority (VTA)
• Jeff Rosenberg: Director of Government Affairs – Amalgamated Transit Union
• Mauro Varela: Treasurer – Amalgamated Transit Union Local 1277 (CA)
• Kristin Warsinski: CEO – Riverside Transit Agency (CA)

MC24 Workforce Development Funding slides

Session Description: Good workforce development programs require resources and investment. Funding is available through a variety of programs to help subsidize the workforce development efforts of transit agencies and their partners. With the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law, the federal government committed to providing funding, through a variety of new and existing competitive grant programs, that can be used for workforce development and training activities. This session featured an overview of funding opportunities, the types of projects that have been awarded funding, and resources available to stay informed about workforce development related grants from a variety of sources.

Moderator:

• Karitsa Holdzkom: Senior Policy Analyst  – International Transportation Learning Center / Transit Workforce Center

Speakers:

• Eliseo Acosta Jr: Workforce Development Coordinator – Amalgamated Transit Union
• Josh Baker: CEO – AMTRAN
• Stu Bass: Principal – Progress Worx; Founding Director – Keystone Development Partnership
• Jamaine “G” Gibson: Director of Apprenticeships and Workforce Development – Amalgamated Transit Union
• Paige Shevlin: Strategic Advisor – Department of Transportation
• Rob Gamble: Sr Workforce and Academic Strategist – California Transit Works!

MC24 Identifying and Accessing Funding slides

The purpose of this Directory is to connect transit managers looking to contract with grant writing consultants available for hire. Agencies can contact grant writers using their information provided by clicking the link below.

Link to Directory