Press Releases

(Washington, DC) - Congressman Ed Case (HI-01), a member of the U.S. House Committee on Appropriations responsible for all federal discretionary spending, announced today that H.R. 2471, the Consolidated Appropriations Act, 2022 signed into law by the President on March 15, 2022, included his request to fund increased training for Hawai’i residents in skills necessary for work in our growing digital economy. 

“The COVID-19 pandemic has increased not only our digital economy overall but our reliance on digital technologies to access employment, healthcare, education and other opportunities,” said Case.

“This means that we must even more rapidly expand training of our Hawai’i workforce in digital economy skills not only to keep pace but to take full advantage of these opportunities.”

“Our State of Hawai‘i Workforce Development Council, in partnership with the Hawai‘i State Library System, is addressing this need through digital literary training via in-person computer classes and access to online learning resources to help individuals attain computer skills and perform basic activities available online. This $975,000 in targeted federal funding will allow for substantial expansion of these efforts to get more of our residents into this workplace faster.”

“I am grateful for the support that Representative Case is providing for a program designed to help our residents in Hawai‘i gain the computer skills necessary to thrive in the digital economy,” said Stacey A. Aldrich, Hawaii’s State Librarian. “It is recognition that a more digitally literate population enables Hawaii to be ready for the challenges and opportunities that the future brings to our world.”

Aldrich continued: “This funding will support the expansion of a pilot project created by the Department of Labor and Industrial Relations and Workforce Development Council (WDC) under the leadership of Director Anne Eustacio.

“The WDC staff partnered with the Hawai‘i State Public Library System and University of Hawaii Community Colleges to deliver over 200 free classes and provide over 200 laptops and/or desktops to participants without devices. We are excited to be able to offer learning opportunities to almost 10x what was offered in the pilot. Our residents will have access to free classes in our public libraries and community spaces to build the digital skills they need to be successful.”

This year the U.S. House incorporated Community Project Funding (CPF) requests by individual Members of Congress for specific projects and purposes in their district into its annual appropriations process. CPF requests may only be directed to governments or non-profits, not for-profit businesses or individuals.

They must have demonstrated community support, and they are subject to audit by the independent Government Accountability Office. Finally, all Members must publicly disclose their CPF requests and signed required ethics certifications. Case’s disclosures are here: https://case.house.gov/media/funding-disclosures.htm.

Case made ten CPF requests, all of which were funded.

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