The U.S. Economic Development Administration is providing a $330,000 grant to the city of Fremont, CA to study how to reuse the New United Motor Manufacturing Inc. plant, which shut down on April 1 after operating for 25 years.
U.S. Deputy Assistant Secretary of Commerce Brian McGowan said in a statement, “The NUMMI site closure in Fremont is representative of the need to diversity and strengthen the San Francisco Bay area economy by developing new investment and job growth opportunities in emerging high growth industries with global markets. This grant will help develop a strategy to create employment opportunities for the workers displaced as a result of the auto plant shutdown.”
The plant employed more than 5,000 people directly and indirectly created about 25,000 jobs at suppliers throughout California.
“I am encouraged by the federal government’s action today. As with all the other auto plant closings around the country, the federal government has a central role to play in helping affected communities find alternative uses for abandoned facilities,” Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger said after the grant was announced last week.
NUMMI was a joint venture between General Motors and Toyota. However, when GM was bailed out by the federal government last year, the Japanese automaker withdrew from the facility and GM decided to close it.
