The City of Manassas and Northern Virginia Community College (NOVA) have launched an innovative program to address career readiness and workforce development: Grow Manassas.
Grow Manassas is a unique collaboration between local government and higher education to provide free technical training and professional certifications to residents. The program offers career training and college coursework free of charge to Manassas residents in partnership with NOVA’s Workforce, Fast-Forward, and Applied Technology programs. While America debates the importance of career and technical education and struggles with the cost of higher education, Manassas is moving forward with solutions to both.
“Our innovative program raises awareness about the advantages of skills training and eliminates cost as a barrier to getting it,” said Patrick Small, Economic Development Director for the City of Manassas. “We have high-tech, high-wage jobs open with world-class employers in our community that don’t require college degrees,” he added. “We want our residents to get our jobs and are investing local resources to make that happen.”
Grow Manassas allows City residents to take classes and receive certifications for local careers in information technology, healthcare, business, engineering, and in skilled trades like automotive repair, heavy equipment operations, welding, HVAC, construction, and more. These skill sets are desperately sought after by the City’s major employers like Micron, Leidos, BAE Systems, Boeing, Lockheed Martin, UVA Health, and others. Participants in the program pay nothing for their education and the full list of available programs can be viewed at https://www.nvcc.edu/growmanassas/.
Qualification and registration are easy, and participants are only required to certify that they meet the following criteria:
- A City of Manassas resident living in the 20110 zip code.
- A Virginia resident for the past 12 months.
- Some programs may require completion of High School/GED, college, or equivalent
With Grow Manassas the City adds to its robust suite of workforce development tools that includes GRADUATE! (a free program helping residents get a GED), a growing CTE program in the public schools, and state programs like FastForward and Virginia G3 (Get a Skill, Get a Job, and Get Ahead). By using local dollars to leverage state ones as well as partnerships with Northern Virginia Community College, Grow Manassas may change the way America views post-secondary education and workforce development.
“We are thrilled that this partnership will give our City of Manassas residents a remarkable opportunity for access to a brighter future through education without a tuition bill,” said Molly Lynch, provost of NOVA’s Manassas Campus. “We look forward to welcoming new and returning students who desire to gain skills for a new career or to advance in their current career.”
For more information about program options, to confirm eligibility, and to receive application instructions visit https://www.nvcc.edu/growmanassas. Questions about the program may also be directed to NOVA Workforce at 703.503.6300 and NOVAWorkforceAnswers@nvcc.edu.
For media questions, please contact Patrick Small, Manassas Economic Development Director at 703.257.8881 psmall@manassasva.gov and Hoang Nguyen, Associate Director of External Communications at NOVA at hdnguyen@nvcc.edu.