Kaine Visits Bilingual Workforce Development Organization In Arlington
WASHINGTON, D.C. – Yesterday, U.S. Senator Tim Kaine, co-chair of the Senate Career and Technical Education (CTE) Caucus, continued his five-day swing through the Commonwealth with a visit to Arlington’s La Cocina VA, an organization focused on bilingual workforce development through culinary job training that offers career certifications, lessons in workforce skills and vocational English instruction to Spanish-speaking students.
“La Cocina VA is a great combination,” said Kaine. “It’s technical education. It’s working with Virginia’s growing Hispanic community. It’s helping people get jobs.”
La Cocina VA offers unemployed individuals bilingual culinary job training programs, equipping its students, many of whom are women, with career and language skills to help them rejoin the workforce. It also strives to nurture entrepreneurs and foster the creation of small businesses in the food service industry. The organization provides education about nutrition and healthier eating habits to help people fight obesity, malnutrition and illnesses. Much of the food prepared in La Cocina courses is donated to local families in need.
Kaine is a longtime supporter of skills-based learning and workforce development programs, co-founding the Senate CTE Caucus and establishing the Governor's Career and Technical Academies in Virginia – now called the Governor’s Science, Technology, Engineering and Math (STEM) Academies – while Governor.
Earlier in the day, Kaine visited the CS Monroe Technology Center in Leesburg, which houses the Loudoun Governor’s STEM Academy, where he met with students on the RoboLoco and Geared UP! robotics teams. Kaine also visited Orbital ATK in Dulles to tour the satellite manufacturing facility and hold a roundtable discussion on the impact that trade deals and the Export-Import Bank have on businesses in the Commonwealth.
Today, Kaine continues his five-day tour of the Commonwealth with visits to Stafford, Culpeper and Orange
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