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Virginia Energy outlines Spark youth workforce program for ages 14–25
Summary
Virginia Energy described the Spark (Skilled Pathways for Advancement, Resilience, and Knowledge) youth program funded by IIJA, with proposal components, subaward plans, target age group, and a timeline for applications and selections.
Andrea Dixon Chesbener, energy workforce coordinator at the Virginia Energy Department, said the agency plans a youth workforce program called Spark — the Skilled Pathways for Advancement, Resilience, and Knowledge — aimed at people ages 14 to 25 to build early career readiness in energy occupations.
Chesbener said funding for Spark comes from the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act. “Funding for Spark was, was given based on the investment, sorry, Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act, IIJA, and we were able to receive $1,300,000 to be able to fund this particular workforce program,” she said. The program design anticipates up to five subawardees, with awards of up to $500,000 each for training and reimbursement purposes.
Organizers said Spark will focus on recruiting youth from low-income and rural communities and on seven proposal components that will be used to evaluate applicants. The agency said it expects to release subaward program guidelines in July–August 2025 and to select subawardees between September and October 2025.
Speakers on the webinar recommended that Spark be coordinated with K–12 career-technical education and with regional training consortia. Joe (commenter) described ongoing work to connect K–12 career-cluster programs to energy-sector opportunities, and other participants suggested partnering with Virginia’s workforce and community-college systems to create consistent pathways.
No formal awards were announced during the webinar. The department asked interested organizations to sign up on its mailing list for future notices and to monitor energy.virginia.gov for application announcements.
