The U.S. Department of Labor has awarded San Jacinto College a $12 million grant to partner with other colleges and industry leaders to train at least 5,000 workers in information technology, according to a San Jacinto College press release.

San Jacinto College will team up with other schools—Alamo Colleges, Austin Community College and the Dallas Community College District—and businesses including IBM Corp., Lockheed Martin Corp., Rackspace, Cerner Corporation and Cisco Systems to train 5,000 IT apprentices and preapprentices over the next 48 months. The Texas Workforce Commission, the California Division of Apprenticeship Standards, the American Association of Community Colleges and the Houston-Galveston Area Council will all support the grant program, the release reads.

“Grants like these would not be possible without work from a great many people,” said Allatia Harris, San Jactinto College's vice chancellor of strategic initiatives, at a July 17 press conference.

Texas had more than 960,000 IT employees in 2017, second only to California. The U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics expects the IT field, which has added 1.5 million new jobs since 2010, to grow 13% nationally. The grant program exists to ensure the Texas workforce develops and maintains skills needed for such jobs, the release reads.

“The goals of this grant program include accelerating the expansion of apprenticeships to new industry sectors, promoting the large-scale expansion of apprenticeships across the nation, and increasing the apprenticeship opportunities for all Americans,” said Sarah Janes, San Jacinto College's associate vice chancellor for continuing and professional development.

“Let me tell you that in working with everyone in this room, industry and community colleges together, we have hit the mark,” she said.