Governor’s Workforce Board RI Awards First Wave of Training Grants

Today, the Governor’s Workforce Board Rhode Island announced $560,000 in matching grants awarded to 26 Rhode Island companies. The awarded grants reflect the top-scoring proposals from more than 144 submissions, and represent the first wave of funded training from the board’s latest round of grant proposals.

The Governor’s Workforce Board hopes to finance additional training programs from this same proposal round as more funding becomes available. Financing for these grants comes from the state's Job Development Fund.

"Ensuring that we have a well-trained workforce is one of the most important steps we can take to grow jobs and improve our economy," said Governor Carcieri.  "I commend the Governor's Workforce Board for their continued response to address the needs to ensure we have a highly skilled workforce and to enhance our ability to compete in the global marketplace."

The 26 awarded grants, which range in size from $1,100 to $50,000, will help 1,370 Rhode Island-based employees improve their existing skill sets. Training runs the gamut from environmental design to three-dimensional modeling software, network security to Google analytics, leadership to workplace safety.

The Governor’s Workforce Board supports strategies that improve the existing skill base of the Rhode Island workforce and that anticipate the future needs of growing and emerging businesses. Since its inception in 2005, the Governor’s Workforce Board has awarded approximately $12 million in matching worker training grants that have improved the skills of more than 21,000 Rhode Island-based workers.

First wave of 2010 Comprehensive Worker Training grants, by community

Rhode Island funds $1.4 million in high-growth industry training
Non-traditional format teaches occupational and literacy skills simultaneously

The Governor’s Workforce Board Rhode Island, in cooperation with Workforce Solutions of Providence/Cranston and the Workforce Partnership of Greater Rhode Island, has awarded nearly $1.4 million in grants to area non-profit organizations so that they may provide contextualized education and training in high-growth industries. Funding for these grants comes from the federal Workforce Investment Act and the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act.
Contextualized training offers literacy education simultaneously with occupational skills training. This non-traditional format allows adults with low literacy levels or limited English-speaking skills to become work-ready more quickly than a traditional ESL delivery system, where language skills must be mastered before occupational training can begin.

Through these 16 contextualized training grants, the workforce boards plan to train 370 Rhode Islands in health care, construction, hospitality and finance occupations. All funded training programs are designed in tiers, so that participants have the opportunity to advance along a career pathway. Upon completion of a tier, participants can then link to appropriate jobs, internship or apprenticeships.

The Request for Proposals for these Contextualized Training Grants was created in collaboration with the RI Department of Education, which issued its own companion RFP for training earlier this year.

Contextualized Training Grants have been awarded to the following organizations, according to industry category:

The Governor's Workforce Board supports strategies that improve the existing skill base of the Rhode Island workforce and that anticipate the future needs of growing and emerging businesses. Since its creation in September 2005, the Governor's Workforce Board has made more than $46 million-worth of strategic investments in Rhode Island that reward collaboration among the state's employment, education and economic development entities. For more information, visit www.rihric.com.

New Green Industry Partnership Announced

The Governor’s Workforce Board Rhode Island has awarded a $149,000 grant to the New England Institute of Technology in support of a new industry partnership, known as the Rhode Island Green Technology Consortium. The 34-member partnership is charged with defining “green technologies” as they relate to Rhode Island industry, identifying the skills needed for workers in these emergent technologies, and supporting and/or creating relevant training opportunities in Rhode Island.

“As Rhode Island's economy continues to shift toward emerging, green industries, it is critical that we identify these new opportunities for job creation and the workforce skills and training needed to succeed," says Governor Donald L. Carcieri. “I would like to commend this new consortium for taking a leadership role in preparing our workforce for a new economy."

Seth Kurn, executive vice president of the New England Institute of Technology, adds, “The college’s involvement demonstrates our ongoing commitment to prepare students and workers for green technology jobs of the future.”

Partners in the Rhode Island Green Technology Consortium include:

Next steps for the new industry partnership include:

• Working with Northeastern University’s Center for Labor Market Studies to research the scope and the skill requirements of Rhode Island’s emergent green workforce.
• Identifying and updating a list of green technology educational and training activities to attract and upgrade workers within the industries.
• Launching a Green Technology Resource Center as a locus for green technologies information. 
• Developing public awareness campaigns for green technologies employment opportunities.
• Supporting the development of industry-wide regulations, ordinances and standards in Rhode Island.

A primary strategy of the Governor’s Workforce Board Rhode Island, industry partnerships represent powerful alliances of businesses, education and training organizations and community-based organizations that are charged with reducing identifiable skill gaps in particular high-growth, high-wage employment sectors. With the addition of the Green Technology Consortium, the Governor’s Workforce Board now funds nine Industry Partnerships in key high-growth, high-wage sectors, including health care/hospitals, health care/long-term care, bioscience, information technology, advanced manufacturing, construction trades, marine trades and hospitality & tourism.

Governor’s Workforce Board Chairperson Joseph MarcAurele states, “Industry partnerships are critical tools for workforce development in Rhode Island, because they help ensure the availability of educational and training opportunities that are driven by industry demand.” MarcAurele adds that by connecting youth and adults to relevant training, Rhode Island can help bridge the gap between the existing skill sets of Rhode Island job seekers and the workplace skills sets desired by Rhode Island businesses.
Established by Governor Donald L. Carcieri in September 2005, the Governor’s Workforce Board Rhode Island combines the scope and resources of the State Workforce Investment Board and the Human Resource Investment Council to provide unified and impactful policy-making decisions that are focused on our state’s greatest asset: its workforce.

Since its inception, the 17-member board has supported $37 million in strategic investments designed to improve the skill base of RI workers, to foster the work readiness of the emerging workforce and to anticipate the needs of new and existing businesses. In Fiscal Year 2009 alone, the board invested approximately $14 million to promote initiatives that are driven by industry need and informed by labor market information. 

In 2009, the Governor’s Workforce Board premiered a five-year strategic workforce plan, created over 18 months with input from over 100 business, education, community and government leaders. The plan offers strategies to improve the development and delivery of demand-driven training in Rhode Island. Its four primary goals include (1) unifying and maximizing the state’s workforce development system; (2) helping employers attract and retain a skilled workforce; (3) assisting adults in gaining the skill sets necessary to meet economic demand; and (4) providing skill development opportunities for the next generation of workers.

To read this plan, visit www.rihric.com/splan.htm.