The Department of Workforce Development (DWD) on Thursday announced almost $1.7 million in Wisconsin Fast Forward worker training grants. The awards to 14 Wisconsin employers, including two from Dane County, will help train more than 760 workers to meet the needs of the workplace of the future in the construction, customer service, health care, manufacturing and transportation sectors.
The grants provide $1,696,808 in funds to reimburse costs of occupational training for unemployed, underemployed and current workers that qualify trainees for full-time work, higher level of employment or increased wages. Some projects include partnerships with community organizations, local employers and industry associations.
Grants are open to all industry sectors and range from $5,000 to $400,000, with projects requiring a 50% cash or in-kind employer match. For an employer to receive funding, 85% of the participants must complete training, 65% must gain employment (the unemployed, hired and the underemployed, promoted), and 75% of incumbent trainees must receive pay raises.
The Dane County project awardees included:
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Meriter Foundation Inc. — $232,925 supporting a partnership with the Center for Healthcare Education and Simulation and Meriter Hospital Inc. to offer a CNA Plus Geriatrics training to 100 unemployed trainees; and
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Watco Companies LLC — $212,978 supporting the training of 53 incumbent workers to advance engineering pathways through classroom and on-the-job training, with opportunities for these workers to receive an hourly wage increase of $1 or more.
