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Good Morning,

WIRED65 has funded a grant to help employers with short-term Information Technology training needs between now and June 30, 2010.  This is being operated by the Southern Indiana Workforce Investment Area and it covers the 26-county WIRED area which includes the Lincoln Trail Area.  I am asking you to get this information out to businesses that might have a need for this training assistance.  They may contact me or go directly to http://www.workoneregion10.com for more information.  The following is a description of the grant by Ron McKulick, Executive Director of Region 10 Workforce Area:


Region 10, here in southern IN, has a WIRED65 Catalytic grant, as you know.  Part of it is focused upon providing Information/Computer Technology training assistance to employers' talent development.

For example, an employer specializes in I.T. work or an employer in the health sector, mfg. sector -- you name it really -- has I.T. employees (1 or more such employees).
These employees periodically need training toward a next IT certification.  At times, the employer pays for part or all of this training  (as it is an investment in the employee and toward growing the company's talent).

The grant we have permits us to work with the employer and pay for half (up to $1,000) of such training investment.  We are working with several employers in southern IN, and have just begun to have some contact with employers in Louisville.  
This grant is unique in permitting work with employers on "both sides of the river."  As we have just gotten into this in the past 6 weeks or so with a new employee, I wanted to convey this to you ASAP.  

Admittedly, all the catalytic grants in WIRED65 have a shorter term than anyone would like.  The grant ends on 6/30/10 unless DOL grants an extension (which appears unlikely).
The reimbursement process is pretty straightforward.  It can help an employee who is just starting tr. to a certification, one who will start soon and so forth.

As you have, I think, employer services in the 1 Stops and/or business consultants/specialists, you may have some ideas about companies with whom to communicate about this initiative.  Our consultant can tell your staff how the project works.  Then your staff can contact employers who they think have a need and are interested and those employers can be connected with our consultant quickly.  It could be a nice, short-term collaboration around employers between our workforce regions.
You can get information about the initiative on the home page of http://www.workoneregion10.com/

It helps employers stretch their training dollar a bit farther in a occupational area that is clearly in-demand/skilled.  The employer invests; the grant reimburses when the employee has completed the tr. and gained the certification.  The average cost of a certification, across quite a few certifications, is about $1,800. Once completed (And in a # of cases, the tr. is short-term and completed in 2-4 month), the employer is reimbursed 900.00, for example.

So, if there are 10-20 employers in your workforce region, that your staff and One-Stops knows and can contact. Then, as each is interested, the employer can be connected to the consultant here and get this enacted.

In effect, do you have some employers in your region who might want to take advantage of this incumbent worker training initiative?

Thank you,

Ron McKulick
Executive Director
Workforce Development Associates, Inc.
P.O. Box 6712
New Albany, Indiana  47151-6712
812-944-7793
812-944-4056 (fax)