{"id":199626,"date":"2024-06-19T16:31:16","date_gmt":"2024-06-20T02:31:16","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.hawaii.edu\/news\/?p=199626"},"modified":"2024-06-19T16:31:16","modified_gmt":"2024-06-20T02:31:16","slug":"resilient-workforce-american-samoa","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.hawaii.edu\/news\/2024\/06\/19\/resilient-workforce-american-samoa\/","title":{"rendered":"$1.7M to help build resilient workforce in American Samoa"},"content":{"rendered":"Reading time: <\/span> 2<\/span> minutes<\/span><\/span>
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American Samoa Power Authority Water Division<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

To help strengthen American Samoa\u2019s critical infrastructure by building a resilient workforce, the University of Hawaiʻi<\/span> Sea Grant College Program<\/a> (Hawaiʻi<\/span> Sea Grant) and American Samoa Community College were awarded $1.7 million. It is one of nine selected projects<\/a> as part of a larger $60 million initiative by the Department of Commerce and National Oceanic and Atmospheric Association (NOAA<\/abbr>) to develop a 21st century workforce capable of addressing the challenges posed by sea-level rise and other climate change-created hazards.<\/p>\n

Through collaboration with the American Samoa Power Authority, the program will provide training and certifications focused on creating climate-ready positions in the authority, enhancing the territory’s capacity to manage and adapt to climate-related threats. American Samoa heavily relies on the American Samoa Power Authority for essential services such as electric power, trash pickup and drinking water.<\/p>\n

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American Samoa coastline and coastal village. (Photo credit Carla Baizeau)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

“It is exciting to help ensure American Samoa is able to leverage their local expertise with support from Inflation Reduction Act<\/a> funding to help realize our goal of a resilient American Samoa,” said Kelley Anderson Tagarino, Hawaiʻi<\/span> Sea Grant\u2019s extension faculty based in American Samoa who is leading the project. “I am sincerely honored to work with such a wonderful team on this important project.”<\/p>\n

Climate frontline community<\/h2>\n

American Samoa is a true climate frontline community, with one of the highest rates of relative sea-level rise in the world. A significant portion of its villages and infrastructure are located along thin strips of coastal land.<\/p>\n

The Inflation Reduction Act is a historic, federal government investment that advances NOAA<\/abbr>\u2019s Climate-Ready Coasts Initiative to help American communities prepare, adapt and build resilience to weather and climate events. As part of the President Biden administration\u2019s Justice40 Initiative<\/a>, the investments will benefit underserved communities across focus areas of climate change, training and workforce development, energy efficiency, clean water, wastewater infrastructure development and more.<\/p>\n

For more information, see Hawaiʻi<\/span> Sea Grant\u2019s website<\/a>.<\/p>\n

–By Cindy Knapman<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

This program will provide training and certifications focused on creating climate-ready positions.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":16,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[25],"tags":[93,1314,635,73,9,438],"class_list":["post-199626","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-academic-news","tag-climate-change","tag-manoa-sustainability","tag-sea-grant-college-program","tag-sustainability","tag-uh-manoa","tag-uh-sea-grant","entry","has-media"],"aioseo_notices":[],"aioseo_head":"\n\t\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t