State offers grants

Hoosiers will have the opportunity to learn new skills through the state’s new Workforce Ready Grant.

As a partnership between the Indiana Commission for Higher Education, Indiana Gov. Eric Holcomb and the Department of Workforce Development, the grant program is the first of its kind in the state designed to help adults without a degree or quality work force certificate pay for training and school.

The program is part of the $24 million “Next Level Jobs” initiative that was unveiled by Holcomb and other officials Monday at the Allison Transmission factory in Indianapolis.

"Indiana is going to cover the cost of our Hoosiers getting the certificates they need to move up that economic ladder," Holcomb said during the news conference.

Through the new Workforce Ready Grant, adults who want to further their education or receive a certificate in a high-demand field will have the opportunity to do so through Ivy Tech, Vincennes University or other workforce training providers like John Jay Center for Learning. The grant is available for two years and covers up to the number of credits required by the qualifying program. 

The five high-demand areas of study that will be offered through the program include: advanced manufacturing, building and construction, healthcare and life sciences, information technology and business services, and transportation and logistics.

Since the initial roll out of the website Monday, higher education commissioner Teresa Lubbers said the program has already seen an impressive number of Hoosiers interested.

“Within 48 hours, we have had over 8,000 people go to the website and about 1,000 have filled out the application for Ivy Tech or Vincennes,” Lubbers said.

Some who signed up for the programs will have the opportunity to start training and classes as early as this fall, Lubbers said, with the remainder of adults entering throughout the rest of the year.

Lubbers said she had a sense that the unveiling the program to the state was “the right idea at the right time.”

“What you used to hear years ago was if we provide the training, people will leave and go to work someplace else — you just don’t hear that anymore,” Lubbers said. “What you hear now is if we don’t have the people with the skills to do the job, we cannot grow, we cannot survive, we cannot produce our services or goods. We are going to need collaboration. Employers are full partners in this and the success of this program really depends on the success of the individual and employer.”

The program will have impacts not only at the state level, but also locally as each county has different demands and job openings.

In Region 6, which includes Jay County, Lubbers said there are more than 41, 000 job openings in advanced manufacturing, with healthcare and life sciences not too far behind.

“If you look county by county, look at the job openings that are there and the reasons why people have not been able to get jobs, it’s because many do not have the skills that are needed for the jobs available,” Lubbers said. “We just need to make sure that people have the skills that they need to get the job."

The grant program not only has the potential to impact adults of the county, but also the future of the local economy, said Rusty Inman, executive director of John Jay Center for Learning in a previous interview.

“With better educated workforce, companies will do better,” Inman said. “The chances with them expanding grows, drawing new industries in with people trained in 21st century work environment. People will earn more. Our goal is to earn more money but have some sort of education.”

The goal now is to continue to monitor the success of the program and hopefully by 2025, 60 percent of Hoosiers will have a degree or credential beyond high school.

“This is the time for Hoosier to get those skills and come back to school – if you do the work, we will pay for the training,” Lubbers said. “Cost isn’t an obstacle. There’s no reason not to do it.”

For details on how to apply for the Workforce Ready Grant, visit nextleveljobs.org/2017.