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The LEON Act 

A Pathway Out of Poverty and a Solution for Our Structural Labor Shortage

 

LEON Act sponsor U.S. Rep. Dwight Evans (center), with OICA Senior Vice President Evelyn Sample-Oates and President and CEO Louis J. King II

Congress is currently considering the bipartisan Leveraging Educational Opportunity Networks (LEON) Act, a national effort to build pathways out of poverty and solve our structural, long-term labor shortage. 


Under the bill, cosponsored by Congressman Dwight Evans (D-PA-3) and Congressman Chuck Edwards (R-NC-11), the U.S. Department of Labor would provide competitive grants to organizations that partner with local employers to provide no-cost professional certification training to workers for living-wage jobs in construction, disaster recovery, manufacturing and more. 

The bill would authorize grants to post-secondary educational institutions that are:  


  • Not-for-profit 
  • Accredited  
  • Providing training at no out-of-pocket costs to students 

It’s named for civil rights leader Rev. Dr. Leon H. Sullivan, who in 1964 founded the worldwide network of skills-training organizations Opportunities Industrialization Centers (OIC). 


“The LEON Act is an opportunity to future-proof tomorrow’s workforce by preparing adults for jobs that provide a pathway to the middle class,” says Louis J. King II, OIC of America’s president and CEO. “With no-cost training, we can transform lives, stabilize and strengthen communities, and address our national labor shortage. In doing so, we create a stronger America.” 


Read the bill text here. 


Contact your senator and representative and ask them to sign on as a cosponsor of the LEON Act!