Atlanta has won a $1.65 million federal grant to train the chronically unemployed and veterans to become health information technology workers.
The program is intended to spur job growth and public-private partnerships across the country.
Atlanta was one of 20 regions to win the funding, which averaged $1.8 million per project. There were 125 applicants.
Atlanta applied as a health information technology "cluster." Gwinnett Technical College will develop a one-year certificate program in health information technology. The Georgia Tech Research Corporation will assist in the program and identify eligible small businesses to participate. The Atlanta Development Authority will coordinate the financing.
Workers trained in these skills help input patient records into medical databases.
Nationally, the grants are projected to create 4,800 jobs, retain 2,400 jobs, train 4,000 workers, start 339 businesses and spur $69 million in new private investment. Federal officials said those numbers came from projections in the grant applications.
"We are making steady progress towards putting America back to work," said U.S. Secretary of Labor Hilda Solis in a conference call with reporters. "The accelerator program uses federal dollars in a smarter way to build up regional economies."
The grant money will come from the U.S. Department of Commerce’s Economic Development Administration, the Department of Labor’s Employment and Training Administration, and the Small Business Administration.
