Alaska Native-serving schools vie for $10 million in training money

Alaska Native-serving colleges and trade schools have until Aug. 24 to compete for a slice of up to $10 million in federal money to train manufacturing and skilled-labor workers, under a grant the U.S. Small Business Administration announced Wednesday. It carves a piece out of a broader $50 million program the agency launched in May and will fund up to five schools nationwide.

The money pays for hands-on courses, workshops and one-on-one advising for workers at Native-owned firms and other small businesses in industries the government counts as critical. For rural Alaska, where skilled-trades and manufacturing training run thin, an award could build that capacity close to the villages and employers that would use it.

Eligible schools include tribal colleges, community colleges near tribal lands, and trade schools serving Alaska Native villages. They need at least three years running and a track record of in-person manufacturing or skilled-labor training for small businesses.

"Native American entrepreneurs and tribal enterprises," SBA Administrator Kelly Loeffler said, will "play a leading role in America's industrial comeback."

Alaska has one tribal college, Iḷisaġvik in Utqiaġvik, which recently bought land for a permanent campus, plus a handful of Native-serving trade schools among the eligible applicants. None has said publicly whether it will apply.

Proposals are due through Grants.gov by Aug. 24, and the SBA is holding an information session Aug. 12.