Workforce Alliance to train, educate hundreds of local workers with largest grant yet
Workers who are unemployed or want to gain new skills to move into a better job will have more training and education opportunities after the regional workforce center received its largest grant yet.
The Workforce Alliance of South Central Kansas was awarded nearly $10 million in federal funding to help 900 employees upskill in advanced manufacturing, transportation and information technology fields.
“These resources will help the Workforce Alliance better serve the large number of workers that need more skills to successfully compete in the labor market,” Gabe Schlickau, chair of the organization, said in a statement. “It will also help dozens of employers that require talented employees to grow their business.”
The grant money from the U.S. Department of Labor will be put to use over the next four years. It could help some employees receive a new degree and others to obtain certificates needed for certain jobs.
Workers should hear about how to sign up for the new training and education by this spring. In April, anyone who is interested can call the Workforce Alliance at 316-771-6800 or schedule an appointment at workforce-ks.com/virtual-career-center/career-training.
People in Butler, Cowley, Harper, Harvey, Kingman, Marion, McPherson, Reno, Sedgwick and Sumner counties will be served by the newly-funded programs.
There are a variety of scenarios in which the money can be used. For example, it could help fund more people to attend an existing robotics class at WSU Tech. It could also aid new programs, such as anything on the Innovation Campus at Wichita State University.
In order to receive the grant, the workforce center partnered with local entities that will help execute the training or recommend employees. Those partners include:
- Cox Machines
- Spirit AeroSystems
- Textron Aviation
XLT Ovens
Wichita Manufacturing Association
The Greater Wichita Partnership
FlagshipKansas.Tech Association
Wichita State University
WSU Tech
The Kansas Department of Children and Families
The Kansas Department of Labor
Local employers could recommend their existing employees for the training opportunities to move them into different roles that better meet business needs. Someone could also seek the training individually if they want to learn a new skill that would make them qualified for a higher-paying job.
“Wichita State is honored to be part of a partnership that will promote workforce and economic development in our region,” said Dr. Rick Muma, interim president of Wichita State, in a statement. “Our commitment to the prosperity of Kansas is paramount to our university’s mission and vision, and this grant will greatly improve employment opportunities and prospect for many workers and families in our state.”
The project could accelerate work at WSU to teach technologies such as automation, robotics and artificial intelligence in partnership with companies. The university last fall announced a new smart factory for such purposes, located on the Innovation Campus
Overall, the U.S. Department of Labor awarded a combined $145 million to 19 organizations across the country.
“We were very humbled because it was so competitive,” said Amanda Duncan, vice president and chief business development officer for the Workforce Alliance. “But we also know a program like this will really make a difference in south central Kansas.”
The grant money comes from the H-1B One Workforce Grant Program through the federal labor agency. The funds are collected when an employer pays to sponsor a foreign worker in a U.S. job, which requires an H-1B visa.
The jobs that employers hire H-1B workers for usually need specialized skills or knowledge, and a business will bring in those employees from abroad when it is unable to find that type of skill set locally.
The federal grant program is intended to reinvest the funds employers spend on foreign workers back into the local labor pool, so that employers can hire more local workers who can obtain the needed, specialized skills.
“The money paid on visas goes to training people locally to get these jobs,” Duncan said.
The Workforce Alliance chose information technology and advanced manufacturing because those are the industries in which Kansas has the highest amount of workers from abroad, Duncan said. The grant will allow the organization to train local workers in those specialty fields.
Examples of occupations in advanced manufacturing include CNC machining and programming; composite fabrication, repair and inspection; computer aided design, robotics and automation; engineering technologies and more.
Information technology jobs include computer systems analysts, computer programmers, software developers and workers in artificial intelligence.
This is not the first time the Workforce Alliance has received grant funding from the H-1B One Workforce program, said Duncan. Previously, the organization was awarded $5 to $6 million on at least four different occasions.
“So this is almost double that amount,” Duncan said. “We’re very excited about the potential. To be able to serve 900 people in this region will be very impactful given the economic hits we’ve taken with the 737 Max and COVID.”
“We know there will be great use for this funding and it will help employers start to rebuild.”
This story was originally published January 21, 2021 at 12:41 PM.
