SAN ANTONIO – San Antonio is one of 12 cities across the nation given the designation of a manufacturing community by the U.S. Department of Commerce on Wednesday.
That comes as music to John Dewey's ears. He is one of the leads of the Investing in Manufacturing Partnership and a member of the San Antonio Manufacturers Association.
"We anticipate that it will bring more companies, we anticipate that it will bring more jobs," Dewey said. "We are sincerely hopeful that it will provide economic growth to a very strong industry that's here already."
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Dewey said manufacturing contributes $30 billion annually to the local economy. The manufacturing community designation means companies and programs can apply to 11 federal agencies for grant money.
San Antonio joins a list of 23 other communities, as 12 were designated the last two years. The South Texas region is partnering with major companies such as Toyota, Lockheed Martin and Caterpillar to train people for jobs, and many of the employees may come from the Center for Advance Manufacturing and Lean Systems at the University of Texas at San Antonio.
The Alamo Manufacturing Partnership is made up of the San Antonio Manufacturers Association, UTSA, Southwest Research Institute, Alamo Colleges, Workforce Solutions Alamo and economic development organizations in an eight-county area.
San Antonio is the first Texas city with the manufacturing community designation and was chosen out of 40 applicants this year, according to a press conference phone call. For more information about the partnership, click here.