$4.6 Million USA Funds Grant
USA Funds has awarded a $4.6 million grant to the University of Hawai‘i to help build Hawai‘i’s innovation economy workforce and stem the state’s “brain drain.”
The USA Funds grant will advance two key University of Hawai‘i initiatives, the Hawai‘i Innovation Initiative and the Hawaiʻi Graduation Initiative. It will enable the State of Hawai‘i to create a model for understanding current and future workforce needs through partnerships among the public and private sectors including the Departments of Labor and Business, Economic Development & Tourism, University of Hawai‘i, the Hawai‘i Department of Education, the Hawai‘i Business Roundtable, and the Chamber of Commerce of Hawai‘i.
The grant will support the creation of a STEM Center of Excellence at the University of Hawai‘i. This center will serve as a resource to coordinate STEM-related activities across the state. Efforts will include an Innovation Workforce Program that will provide rapid response training to meet immediate workforce needs. The Center will also build and strengthen STEM Education Pathways from K-12 into community colleges and four-year universities, and provide students with the information and education they need for career success