Access employee training funding

If your company has employee-training needs, there’s more than $5 million on the table to help offset the cost.

Washington State’s Job Skills Program (JSP) provides funds for training new or current employees on-site or in a local classroom. Since 2008, JSP has given almost $24 million in grants and trained nearly 29,500 workers in Washington State.

For Pierce County employers, Invista Performance Solutions— a collaboration of Clover Park Technical College, Pierce College Fort Steilacoom, Pierce College Puyallup and Tacoma Community College — makes it easy to tap into grants to help fund programs to meet your specific training needs. Invista will arrange the training programs and facilitate funding applications. The deadline to apply for the next grant is August 30, 2019, for projects starting as early as October 1.

“The mantra across America is to do more with less, and that often means cutting employee training and development budgets,” said Don Sosnowski, Invista Performance Solutions executive director.

“We provide a way to help organizations stretch their limited training budgets and still fund valuable employee training. Our colleges make the process easy, from the initial grant application through training rollout, to final reporting.”

The JSP training program helps boost economic growth by enabling local businesses to thrive and expand. That translates to more jobs in Pierce County. In addition, the program supports areas with new and expanding industries; locations where local populations lack skills needed to sustain employment; and regions feeling the pain of large-scale job loss. JSP funding also enables training and employment for those at risk of losing their jobs due to technological or economic changes.

Several Pierce County companies and organizations have reaped the benefits of the JSP grant awards. Bite Me, Inc., a Tacoma-based manufacturer of high-quality natural, organic cookies, used a $69,607 grant for LEAN, English as Second Language (ESL), computer software and food-safety certification training. Tacoma Community House, a provider of services to immigrants, refugees and other South Sound residents, offered employee training around change management, team building, interpersonal communication and more, thanks to a $42,658 JSP grant.

To be eligible for funding, companies or organizations must be a private corporation, institution, firm, person, group or association concerned with commerce, trade, manufacturing or the provision of services within Washington State, or a public or nonprofit hospital licensed by the Department of Social Services (DSHS). Nonprofit organizations meeting the criteria are also eligible. Government and municipal agencies, including tribal governments, are not eligible. Companies and organizations that receive a grant are required to match the Washington State funding by paying trainee wages and benefits during the training program.

For more information, visit the Invista Performance Solutions website or contact the company at info@invistaperforms.org or 253.583.8865.