Governor Bev Perdue announced Thursday that North Carolina will receive a $578,745 federal grant to develop and test a curriculum to train qualified personal and home care aides. The state stands to gain an additional $1.4 million over the following two years. The U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics projects that from 2006 to 2016 North Carolina will need to increase its pool of personal and home care workers by 48,530 workers, a 43 percent increase over the 10-year period.

The NC Department of Health and Human Services, along with the NC Foundation for Advanced Health Programs and a broad-based partner team will develop, pilot and implement a four-phase training and competency program that focuses mainly on direct care workers in home and residential care settings. Funding is from the Affordable Care Act and Personal and Home Care Aide State Training Program. North Carolina is one of six states chosen for the funding.