Silver State Times

Carson City, NV – On June 16, Nevada Attorney General Aaron D. Ford announced the approval of the use of $4,466,662 million in T-Mobile settlement money to fund grants for three Governor’s Office of Workforce Innovation (GOWINN) programs. These innovative programs aim to reduce recidivism of Nevada’s female prison population, increase support for Nevada students and address our teacher shortage crisis.

“I am proud that our settlement with T-Mobile will continue to be used to address the needs of our state and create more opportunities for the people who live here,” said AG Ford. “These funds will support Nevada’s economy as filling our teacher shortage, providing for our students’ educational gaps and increasing the number of women in the workforce will stimulate economic growth in some of our most disadvantaged communities.” 

Reducing recidivism of Nevada’s female prison population
GOWINN will launch a three-year pilot program to reduce the recidivism of Nevada’s female prison population with new workforce development programming at Nevada’s three female prisons: Florence McClure, Jean, and Casa Grande. This grant will bring together a strong collaborative partnership between GOWINN, the Nevada Department of Corrections (NDOC), the College of Southern Nevada (CSN), Western Nevada College (WNC), Hope for Prisoners, and the University of Nevada Las Vegas (UNLV). 

Partnership with Las Vegas Aces Foundation to support Nevada’s students
GOWINN will partner with the Las Vegas Aces Foundation to increase support for Nevada students through sports internships, access to mental health, and financial literacy. These three areas of focus support the State’s emerging professional sports industry, address the increased mental health concerns of Nevada’s youth due to the pandemic and lastly provide lessons in life skills such as financial literacy which are often educational gaps missing in our schools.

Public Education Foundation’s (PEF) Teacher Pathway Program
The PEF Teacher Pathway program is part of a larger public-private effort to address our teacher shortage crisis by creating “grow your own” pathways to developing teaching candidates. Grant funding will start with supporting current paraprofessionals which include but are not limited to classroom instructional aides or long-term substitutes. PEF has recruited 92 paraprofessionals and substitute teachers for the Teacher Pathway program this school year alone, which currently work - and largely live - in the underserved areas most in need of classroom teachers. The PEF also boasts 76 percent of mentees coming from diverse backgrounds and 91 percent being women. 

The money for these programs, approved Wednesday by the state’s Interim Finance Committee, comes from a 2019 settlement with T-Mobile that included a charitable contribution of $30 million earmarked for enhancing entrepreneurial opportunities for women, minorities, and women and minority-owned businesses. 

Original source can be found here.