Bill Mach was instrumental in the establishment of the Berrien Tooling Coalition, so he knows the critical importance of skills training for critical employees. His firm, Mach Mold, has availed itself of skilled trades training in the past, and he and others will have the chance this fall to train even more of the workforce for high skilled jobs thanks to the Skilled Trades Training Fund program entering a third year of training.
Mach and other Michigan employers will once again be eligible for the popular Skilled Trades Training Fund (STTF) program, which is a competitive grant that provides funds to companies for short term, in-demand training. In the last year alone, the STTF program resulted in more than 2,900 jobs created and 6,400 jobs retained.
The STTF is a competitive grant program allowing employers to apply for funds to train existing or new employees for hard-to-fill vacancies. The types of training programs eligible for funding include classroom training which prepares individuals with the skill set required to meet the employer's needs as well as diversify the skill sets of current employees. Employers can also receive onsite job training reimbursement for wages paid while training a new or existing employee on a new process.
As Bill Mach, President of Mach Mold tells us, “The STTF grant has helped our company train our employees to maintain their technical competency in this very competitive industry.”
To date, West Michigan has received the most funding of any of the economic development regions in the state. In fiscal year 2016, the West Michigan region received $3.6 million in awards and exceeded targets for job creation, job retention and training completion.
Team Kinexus will be holding eight information sessions throughout the tri-county region starting next week on July 26 and running throughout the month of September in an effort to help educate employers on the advantages of the program, which begins on October 1, 2016. Employers should be thinking of a strategic plan regarding training and hiring needs. The STTF can support training costs up to $1,500 per employee and up to $3,000 for new apprentices. Dates and locations for the information sessions are:
- Tuesday, July 26 at 3:00PM – Cornerstone Alliance in Benton Harbor
- Tuesday, August 9 at 9:00AM – Paw Paw Michigan Works!
- Wednesday, August 24 at 3PM – Southwestern Michigan College in Dowagiac
- Tuesday, August 30, at 9:00AM – South Haven Campus of Lake Michigan College
- Wednesday, September 7 at 3:00PM – Kinexus Training Center in Benton Harbor
- Tuesday, September 13 at 9:00AM – Dowagiac Michigan Works!
- Tuesday, September 20 at 3:00PM – Paw Paw Michigan Works!
- Wednesday, September 28 at 9:00AM – Southwestern Michigan College
Anybody with questions is welcome to contact Kinexus Business Development Manager, Jeff Hannan at 269.927.1064, x1171, or hannanj@kinexus.org.
