Moore Announces Grants to Improve Skills for Job Seekers and Employed Workers

July 18 Press Release from State Senator Micheal Moore

BOSTON – Senator Michael O. Moore (D-Millbury) today announced the release of $4.5 million through the Workforce Competitiveness Trust Fund to improve the skills of job seekers and incumbent employees in Massachusetts, including Worcester. This latest round of Workforce Competitiveness Trust Fund grants is designed to address the gap between the skills held by workers and the skills needed by employers for jobs that require more than a high school diploma but less than the equivalent of a 4-year degree.

In August 2012, Governor Patrick signed “An Act Relative to Infrastructure Investment, Enhanced Competitiveness, and Economic Growth in the Commonwealth,” which appropriated $5 million to the Workforce Competitiveness Trust Fund to support partnerships between employers, educational institutions and workforce organizations to train and upgrade the skills of new and incumbent workers.

“By addressing the skills gap, we are strengthening the economy of the Commonwealth by putting people back to work and ensuring qualified employees for our employers,” Senator Moore stated. “By including businesses in the partnerships that train workers, we are ensuring skills of the graduates will help businesses to meet their talent needs, and will keep Massachusetts competitive in a 21st Century global economy.”

The Workforce Competitiveness Trust Fund will support 15 partnerships between employers and education and workforce organizations ranging from community colleges and vocational technical schools to career centers and workforce investment boards. Together, these regional partnerships are dedicating resources to support initiatives that will train more than 850 individuals, mostly job seekers, in a variety of industries including healthcare, manufacturing, construction trades, hotel and hospitality, early education, and financial services.

Each grant is awarded to the lead grantee of the regional partnership. The following is the recipient of the Workforce Competitiveness Trust Fund for Worcester:

North Central MA Workforce Investment Board: $400,000
This regional partnership will prepare unemployed and underemployed individuals for jobs as machine operators, machine inspectors, and computer numerical control machinists to support the advanced manufacturing industry in North Central and Central Massachusetts.

To learn more about the Workforce Competitiveness Trust Fund, visit http://www.commcorp.org/areas/int.cfm?ID=12&sub=166.