The Washington County Chamber of Commerce presented a “Federal Funding Roundtable for Advanced Manufacturing” meeting on Thursday. Participants at the event were the Catalyst Connection, a company that can guide manufacturers to access funding from the recent Inflation Reduction Act, Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act and the Chips and Science Act among others. They can also connect manufacturers with other funding sources and job training resources. Petra Mitchell, President and CEO of Catalyst Connection stated that manufacturing jobs can lift a family from poverty and provide a life sustaining income. She and Matt Thiel, President of AUMA Actuators said that they are seeing fruits of those federal funding acts begin to flourish. Thiel says that large companies are beginning to work on projects and as part of their supply chain local manufacturers are looking to hire and invest in new technology. John Goberish is the Dean of the School of Industrial Technology and Continuing Education at the Community College of Beaver County. He says courses in automation and process technology are growing. They will be opening Washington County classrooms in Peters Township at the former middle school now occupied by the Intermediate Unit One. Amy Gatts, Director of the Southwest Corner Workforce Development Board is the major funding source for any business looking for funding to help fill vacant employee positions. Her board can help businesses fund training for any company. Most recently, automation jobs have been very popular. The key point that was driven is that the funding is there to help manufacturers overcome some of the financial barriers to employment and equipment upgrades.