Nevada JobConnect will have $1.4 million to spend on administration and job training this coming year, thanks partly to a $500,000 grant under the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act.

The $500,000 will be specifically for training job applicants for careers in corrections and green energy, according to Claudia Palacios, Nevada JobConnect resource development specialist.

Nevada JobConnect already is receiving $400,000 for salaries, operational expenses, utilities and supplies. Then there's $540,000 to run the other Workforce Investment Act agencies affiliated with Nevada JobConnect, like Nevada Partners.

Diane Lake, interim manager for the Nevada JobConnect Pahrump office, said the most her office has ever received specifically for job training in their four years in Pahrump has been $100,000.

"So this is huge for us," Lake said.

Nevada JobConnect now has a quota to find jobs for 120 clients, with which they placed 186 applicants in the last year, Lake said. The new funding will have a target of finding jobs for another 330 applicants, perhaps in those two industries, she said.

Palacios said she applied for the grant funds for industry-specific jobs, namely corrections and energy in a rural area with a low, economic base. Their application scored third from more than 50 applicants, she said.

The grant is funneled from the U.S. Department of Labor to the Southern Nevada Workforce Investment Board to the Pahrump JobConnect office, Palacios said.

JobConnect doesn't have to reapply for the funds every year, Palacios said.

"It's a three-year project period. It's based on our performance. If we do 330 clients well, it's likely we'll have this money in 2010," Palacios said.

Lake said JobConnect can use the money to provide tools for a job, gas money to get there, even travel expenses if applicants can prove they have a job out of state. They can use money to pay for sheriff's cards, fingerprinting, background checks, anything that will be required to get a person a job, she said.

Palacios said some of the money will be used to set up a satellite office in Tonopah. JobConnect can also use interactive, audio-visual technology to meet with job applicants who don't have to travel to Pahrump, she said.

Nevada JobConnect is merging with Great Basin College effective July 1. College and employment counselors met with the Association of Building Contractors about an apprenticeship program Wednesday morning and met with representatives from the Corrections Corporation of America human relations department Thursday morning.

Bill Verbeck, director of the Pahrump Great Basin College campus, said the community needs to understand the detention center will provide jobs ranging from $14 to $36 per hour.

"If we can put 120 to 180 of these positions to work -- it's everything from making beds and food to maintenance to surveillance and everything -- you would have basically a city out there," Verbeck said.

On the green energy side, college officials didn't have many specifics yet. But Verbeck said students could be trained in installing domestic solar hot water heaters, a program being proposed by Valley Electric Association, or for the concentrated solar power projects proposed in Amargosa Valley.