$504M CHIPS Grants go to EDA's Tech Hubs. How are Community Colleges Involved?

In July 2024, the U.S. Commerce Department’s Economic Development Administration (EDA) announced $504 million in funding for 12 Regional Technology and Innovation Hubs, commonly called “Tech Hubs.” The twelve recipients were selected from the total 31 Tech Hub designees by the Biden administration in October 2023 during the program's first phase. Tech Hubs was authorized under the CHIPS & Science Act of 2022. The 19 remaining Tech Hubs that did not win the larger awards will each receive $500,000 and ongoing technical assistance from the EDA to support their efforts.

EDA’s Tech Hubs support regions across the country with assets and resources that have the potential to become globally competitive in advanced and emerging technologies, powering industries of the future.

Tech Hubs bring together regional consortia of companies, universities, community colleges, nonprofits, and state and local governments to promote technology-based economic development activities including:

• Progressing the maturation and deployment of emerging technologies into the industry
• Supporting high-potential tech entrepreneurs and startups built around those technologies
• Building technology testbeds, prototyping facilities, and manufacturing facilities to test and scale the production of the technologies and
• Expanding workforce development relating to the jobs resulting from technological advances

Tech Hubs aim to grow innovation economies around eight technology themes:

1. Safe and Effective Autonomous Systems
2. Maintaining Our Quantum Edge
3. Advancing Biotechnology: Drugs and Devices
4. Advancing Biotechnology: Precision and Prediction
5. Accelerating Our Energy Transition
6. Strengthening Our Critical Minerals Supply Chain
7. Regaining Leadership in Semiconductor Manufacturing
8. Growing the Future of Materials Manufacturing

The Tech Hubs, alongside the U.S. National Science Foundation’s Regional Innovation Engines program, whose awardees were also announced in January 2024, are carrying out Congress’ CHIPS Act vision of expanding the innovation economy into overlooked parts of the nation.

Over the next ten years, both programs aim to grow emerging technology-focused industries and promote economic growth beyond the traditional coastal tech enclaves of Silicon Valley, Seattle, or Boston.

EDA Tech Hubs and Workforce Development

Tech Hubs are already gathering significant attention for their promise to create domestic jobs and impact workforce education. An op-ed for the Indianapolis Star by Senator Todd Young (R-IN) touted that the “CHIPS Act tech hubs will open the floodgates for 9,000 jobs in Indiana.” An Augusta Chronicle piece by Garnett Johnson, the mayor of Augusta, Georgia, called out the program as critical to "move Augusta forward."

In announcing the Tech Hubs, Vice President and Democratic Presidential Nominee Kamala Harris said the Tech Hubs will give regions “the resources and opportunities necessary to lead in the economy of tomorrow while creating good-paying jobs for American workers.”

Meanwhile, U.S. Commerce Secretary Gina Raimondo, who partnered with former Labor Secretary Marty Walsh to publish the first-ever federal Job Quality Toolkit, emphasized Tech Hubs’ potential to create “high quality, family-sustaining 21st century jobs in people’s backyards.”

While workforce needs are likely to arise across all of the TechHubs as their innovation ecosystems mature, of the fifty-two specific projects receiving EDA funding, fourteen will focus on workforce development. Twenty-one others are focused on technology maturation, seven support business and entrepreneurship development, and ten strengthen regional and state consortium coordination.

Tech Hub implementation award projects will serve the needs of fourteen states: Colorado, Florida, Georgia, Illinois, Indiana, Montana, Nevada, New Hampshire, New Mexico, New York, Ohio, Oklahoma, South Carolina, and Wisconsin. Ten out of twelve hubs are supporting small and rural communities.

Community Colleges in EDA Tech Hubs

EDA’s Tech Hubs also present substantial opportunities for community colleges to expand pathways to good jobs in the innovation economy. If the Tech Hubs are to be successful, community colleges are expected to play a prominent role.

Today, community colleges not only educate America’s care workers, welders, and electricians or support degree attainment at universities through transfer pathways, but they are also training for jobs in emerging fields comprising the industries TechHubs are catalyzing.

Through certificates, degree programs, apprenticeships, and customized training, community colleges can meet labor market needs for the emerging technology areas Congress emphasized in CHIPS – including artificial intelligence, autonomous vehicles, electric vehicles, quantum technology, biotechnology, green and energy efficiency jobs, advanced manufacturing, and beyond.

Many of jobs created by the hubs are optimally suited for community college training through apprenticeships, non-degree and microcredentials, and boot camp-style programs. Associate’s and bachelor’s degree programs are also critical, including community college applied baccalaureates, which are already offered in fields like artificial intelligence and biotechnology.

There are about fifty community and technical colleges included in projects across the Tech Hubs. Some colleges are receiving direct funding, while others are securing private, state, or philanthropic contributions for their work. For example, The George Kaiser Family Foundation committed $10 million for wraparound support for working students as part of its commitment to the Tulsa Tech Hub.

In an email statement, Francesca (Cesi) de Quesada Covey, Miami Dade County's Chief Economic Development and Innovation Officer and Regional Innovation Officer of South Florida's ClimateReady Tech Hub, shared with me that Miami Dade College, its community college partner, will receive $6 million under their Tech Hub award.

"Miami-Dade College is a proven leader in workforce development and accessibility through initiatives like the Future Ready Miami-Dade Scholarship, which provides tuition-free education and extensive support services,” she told me.

“At Miami Dade College, we are all about innovation and ways to support efforts that advance sustainable and resilient infrastructure," said Madeline Pumareiga, President of Miami Dade. The community college's Miami Tech Works is a sectoral partnership initiative that is set to lead workforce development for the hub which aims to create 23,000 new jobs over the next ten years.

Some colleges are training for existing jobs while planning for training as Tech Hubs create jobs. Others are supporting reskilling and upskilling needs of workers as technology impacts workplaces. The Denver, Colorado-based Elevate Quantum Tech Hub is uniting quantum science and technology economic development efforts across Colorado, New Mexico, and Wyoming. It expects to create at least 10,000 new jobs and train 30,000 workers in quantum technology over ten years.

"With 3,000 workers already in our commercial quantum ecosystem alone–and up to 80 percent of jobs not requiring advanced degrees–our region is shovel-ready for scaling quantum technologies to ensure a thriving and inclusive American economy for generations to come," read a statement from Zachary Yerushalmi, Elevate Quantum CEO, on the hub’s website.

“Too many people hear words like quantum computing and think a career in quantum is a pipe dream," said Tracy Hartzler, President of Central New Mexico College. Central New Mexico is one of Elevate Quantum’s workforce development co-leads. “CNM is honored to be leading the efforts to develop a high-quality and robust quantum technician workforce that will help businesses scale up quickly and establish our Mountain West region as a global leader in the quantum information system economy.”

According to Hartzler, the college is establishing an immersive 10-week, 40-hour-per-week "quantum technician boot camp" that will prepare students for immediate employment upon completion. Hartzler says that starting salaries are expected to be in the $80,000-per-year range, and no prerequisites are required for the boot camp which is expected to begin in June 2025. The college is also supporting other community colleges in the mountain west region create quantum workforce programs.

Real Funding, Real Opportunity: But Congress Must Act on CHIPS

While many colleges receive direct EDA funding, other colleges are named partners but do not receive dedicated EDA funding. Congress authorized TechHubs as a $10 billion program, but it still needs to appropriate funding as called for in the CHIPS Act.

If Congress doesn't follow through on appropriation targets, the states receiving Tech Hub funding and 2-year colleges’ efforts to support students will be hamstrung. Community colleges supported by National Science Foundation funding, including through the NSF Engines program, report a similar crunch under Congressional budget cuts enacted in March.

That said, one thing is certain. With EDA's Tech Hubs now live and operating, there are real opportunities to align emerging technology and talent development through community college. It could be just what America needs for this 21st-century re-embrace industrial policy to work out for working-class families.