Republican Governor (AK); ; nominee for Vice President
Alaska Construction Academy: 2,520 students learn skills
We have some great news to share about a successful partnership involving the Alaska Department of Labor and Workforce Development. This venture produced the Alaska Construction Academy, and now, more than 2,300 middle and high school students and
320 adults are learning new skills--such as carpentry, plumbing, electrical, welding and drywall finishing. The academy started as a pilot program in Anchorage to attract and train young people and adults to first jobs in the Alaska construction industry
This program has been so successful, more will follow elsewhere statewide. Graduates will help fill the 1,000 construction jobs that are needed annually.
Out of the first group of 113 Anchorage adult graduates, 77% were hired and increased their
earnings 40% in the two quarters following their training. Adult classes are offered at various times, based on community employer needs, and will be expanded to include weatherization programs.
WORKFORCE DEVELOPMENT - I will leverage job-training dollars through efficiencies in government, private sector partnerships, and responsible investments in job training opportunities that result in good jobs for Alaskans.
I look forward to working with a cross section of citizen advisors who represent private sector employers' educational institutions, union and non-union training programs and other workforce development professionals on the Alaska Workforce
Investment Board. With their advice, we can meet the rapidly growing need for trained workers. I am a strong proponent of vocational and technical curriculum in our schools and will focus on this area to get our workforce ready for the future.
I don't want to see an importation of Alaska's workforce when we have untapped talent here in the state, anxious for training and anxious for the opportunity to work.
Focus Workforce Investment Board on vocational careers
Workforce Readiness for Students: Alaska's youth have tremendous career opportunities in the skilled trades if they have adequate training. I will charge the Alaska Workforce Investment
Board (AWIB) with drawing upon its considerable expertise to develop a pilot program aimed at increasing awareness of vocational career opportunities for our younger students through a partnership with industries facing worker shortages.
The pilot will be industry-focused and include a streamlined and efficient administrative process to encourage industry participation.
It will consider children's safety first and be designed with exciting field trips and industry-based learning activities.
Praised the Red Dog zinc mine for bringing rural jobs
The major candidates for governor can't go anywhere in Alaska without discussing Pebble, the gigantic mineral, copper and gold deposit north of Iliamna. Following are the candidates' positions.
Knowles claims strong opposition. At a resource industry
forum in Anchorage, Knowles said he finds the Pebble project "terrifying." Knowles said recently, "The scale of it is so enormous. On its merits, (Pebble) is an unacceptable risk."
Palin is reserving judgment on Pebble, for now. On the Pebble project,
Palin says she would not put one resource, such as the Bristol Bay salmon fishery, at risk "for another resource."
In recent debates, Palin has rarely commented on individual mines, though she praised the Red Dog zinc mine near
Kotzebue for bringing jobs to rural Alaska.
SUMMARY: TONY KNOWLES: Thinks the Pebble mine prospect is "terrifying."
SARAH PALIN: Withholding judgment until she sees Pebble permit applications, but unwilling to risk the region's fisheries.
Knowles & Palin, courting the fish crowd is de rigueur. More than 20,000 commercial fishermen chase fish. More than 200,000 residents hold sportfishing licenses. And 83% of rural households have subsistence fishing permits.
All the candidates say the
Alaska Department of Fish and Game is underfunded, lacking enough people and tools to study and protect the fish and their habitat.
All also promise to appoint people to the state Board of Fisheries and the North Pacific
Council who will put the health of fish stocks first and won't let politics interfere.
Knowles vows he won't appoint "lightning rods," but his commercial critics argue he did as governor, naming people with sportfishing or environmental bents such as
Kenai River sportfishing kingpin Bob Penney.
"What I was trying to do was bring a real balance," Knowles said. Indeed, the makeup of the board and council have at times tilted heavily toward commercial fishing interests.
