Northwest-Shoals Community College President Humphrey Lee said plans will begin immediately to use nearly $4 million in grants to help prepare local residents in the manufacturing and health-care fields.

Lee was informed Tuesday by U.S. Sen. Jeff Sessions, R-Mobile, that the school had received two grants totaling $3,841,223.

The grants will be used to meet work-force needs in nursing and advanced manufacturing.

"We'll start work immediately on these initiatives and should have both up and going by the fall of 2009," Lee said.

Sessions said Alabama community colleges already provide strong training and education and are getting better through these types of programs that the grants will provide.

"This will be a fabulous thing. We want our work force skilled and well educated, and this initiative will provide and offer that," Sessions said.