A new jobs training program was unveiled July 17 that promises to open new job opportunities in the construction industry for low-wage workers in Springfield and Holyoke.

Community Works is a 30-agency partnership of major contractors, unions, state and municipal agencies and non-profits. Partners include the mayors of Springfield and Holyoke, MGM Resorts, which hopes to build a major resort casino in Springfield, CareerPoint, the Massachusetts AFL-CIO, the Construction Institute, the Community Education Project, Western MassCOSH and the Labor and Management Workplace Education Program (LMWEP) at UMass Amherst.

The program is funded with $262,000 from the Commonwealth Corp., a non-profit workforce development agency. It aims to give low-wage workers in Springfield and Holyoke training and access to apprenticeship programs to become carpenters, electricians, plumbers and other skilled workers.

"We hoped to combine that need with training that would provide pathways out of poverty, sustainable systemic change, grassroots ownership and economic and social justice," LMWEP Director Joe Connolly said in a statement."That is what this partnership is planning to accomplish."