THE U.S. Department of Commerce’s Economic Development Administration approved a $10.7 million recovery grant that will fund Northern Marianas College’s workforce development center.
The announcement made by the federal grantor was shared to the community by NMC Board of Regents and interim President Frank Eliptico in a press conference on Tuesday.
The fund, U.S. Secretary of Commerce Wilbur Ross said in statement is a critical recovery award using fiscal year 2019 Disaster Supplemental funds to NMC, to construct a three-story, approximately 20,158 square foot, typhoon resistant, Americans with Disability Act-compliant Workforce Development and Training Center.
Eliptico told reporters it was part of NMC’s grant development funds since Super Typhoon Yutu approximately 80 percent of the campus.
“So for the past two years we have been working on securing funds to help recover and to help build a brand new campus for our community, for our students and for our future students,” he said.
“Today, we received the news and we are so happy. We applied for grant more than a year ago. So it’s a long process and we are glad to see that it was approved finally,” he added.
The NMC workforce development center, Eliptico said will house its business program, nursing program and will become the venue for the college’s training programs and innovations.
The NMC business programs, he said include really the critical workforce development program like accounting, computer applications, hospitality industry management and other business management courses. The center will also house NMC’s nursing program that includes associate degree in nursing and certificate program in nursing, and new programs that will help build up NMI’s healthcare capacity like radiology technician, medical technician, laboratory technician and other related healthcare industry workforce capacity activities.
He noted that the Covid-19 has caused an increase in demand for healthcare workers.
“So we are working to secure partnership with local and off island institutions to implement new programs that build up healthcare capacity in the CNMI,” he said.
The Federal Emergency Management Agency has estimated that Super Typhoon Yutu, the strongest typhoon to ever strike NMI, did over $800 million in damage to the islands.
U.S. Commerce said in statement the EDA-funded building, to be located in a Tax Cuts and Jobs Act Opportunity Zone, is expected to create 93 jobs.
“The Trump Administration is committed to helping businesses grow by supporting locally-driven workforce training initiatives,” said Secretary of Commerce Wilbur Ross. “This project will provide the Northern Mariana Islands with the necessary workforce training facility to strengthen the economic resilience of the region that is vulnerable to natural disasters. The project’s location in an Opportunity Zone will drive additional private investment to the Northern Mariana Islands.”
“The Economic Development Administration plays an important role in helping communities impacted by natural disasters not only rebuild, but rebuild stronger,” said Dana Gartzke, Performing the Delegated Duties of the Assistant Secretary of Commerce for Economic Development. “This project will help the Northern Mariana Islands respond to the economic impact of Super Typhoon Yutu by expanding the training of skilled workers to meet the current and future demands of local employers, and the project’s location in an Opportunity Zone is critical to enhancing economic development.”
For his part, Gov. Ralph DLG Torres said “The grant funds will help Northern Marianas College build resilient, technologically-advanced, and energy-efficient facilities to meet the workforce and education needs of the Northern Mariana Islands.”
“We are thankful to the Trump Administration for their help and support of NMC’s long term recovery and rebuilding efforts. The new facilities funded by EDA will help NMC expand and sustain critical programs for our community moving forward as the College commemorates its 40th anniversary in 2021,” he added.
The $10.7 million funding that NMC stands to receive goes to one of NMI’s 20 Opportunity Zones which was created by President Donald J. Trump’s Tax Cuts and Jobs Act of 2017.
Opportunity Zones are spurring economic development in economically-distressed communities nationwide. In June 2019, EDA added Opportunity Zones as an Investment Priority, which increases the number of catalytic Opportunity Zone-related projects that EDA can fund to fuel greater public investment in these areas. To learn more about the Commerce Department’s work in Opportunity Zones, please visit EDA’s Opportunity Zones webpage. To learn more about the Opportunity Zone program, see the Opportunity Now resources page here. To learn more about Opportunity Zone best practices, see the recently released White House Opportunity and Revitalization Council Report to President Trump.
This project is funded by the Additional Supplemental Appropriations for Disaster Relief Act of 2019 (Pub. L. 116-20), which provided EDA with $600 million in additional Economic Adjustment Assistance (EAA) Program funds for disaster relief and recovery for areas affected by Hurricanes Florence, Michael, and Lane, Typhoons Yutu and Mangkhut, wildfires, volcanic eruptions, and other major natural disasters occurring in calendar year 2018, and tornadoes and floods occurring in calendar year 2019, under the Robert T. Stafford Act. These disaster appropriations are separate from EDA’s normal, annual appropriation. Please visit EDA’s Disaster Supplemental webpage for more information.
