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Committee advances $2 million subaward for renewable-energy workforce training despite federal funding pause
Summary
Cuyahoga County advanced a $2 million subaward to Manufacturing Works for renewable-energy pre-apprenticeships tied to a larger $129 million EPA grant; presenters said federal drawdowns have paused intermittently, and Manufacturing Works is assuming some start-up risk while contracts include clauses making programming contingent on federal funds.
The committee on Feb. 19 voted to advance resolution 20250063, which would authorize a subgrant not to exceed $2,000,000 to Manufacturing Works to develop pre-apprenticeship and outreach programs supporting deployment of roughly 63 megawatts of solar and a 10–20 megawatt battery project under Cuyahoga County’s Climate Pollution Reduction Grant from the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency.
Valerie Katz, deputy administrator for Cuyahoga Green Energy, said the county’s larger EPA award (presented in the hearing as approximately $129,000,000) will fund solar on brownfields and landfills largely in Cleveland and the city of Painesville, and a brownfield restoration component that will reforest roughly 1,000 acres in Painesville. Katz said the renewable-energy deployments will require a skilled local workforce and that Manufacturing Works will develop pre-apprenticeship programs, outreach into K–12 and higher education and employer partnerships to fill that need.
Katz and Manufacturing Works representatives described intermittent pauses in federal funding: "On January 28... our federal funding was paused... a week and a half later the federal funds reappeared... and then a few days after that, they were paused again," Katz told the committee. Committee members pressed on the contract risk. Manufacturing Works said it is "cautiously optimistic" and has internal gap funding and philanthropic gap support for initial planning and staff; presenters said contracts include caveats that programming is contingent on federal funding availability and that subawardees should be prepared to await drawdowns.
Council President Miller criticized the federal process in a strongly worded remark, saying it was a poor way to run a federal program and expressing concern about community organizations bearing uncompensated costs. Presenters said they are proceeding to finalize contracts in order to demonstrate progress, with the understanding that reimbursement will depend on federal funding being accessible.
The committee approved the motion to move the resolution out of committee for second reading. The record shows the committee will continue to monitor federal availability and contract language that limits county financial exposure if funds remain suspended.
