DWD’s Skilled Workforce Initiative is a new collaborative, performance-based approach to targeting workforce funds. It is designed to stratify investment of limited discretionary employment and training funds in priority areas to better prepare Missourians for quality, family-supporting jobs. This initiative made $7 million available to workforce regions across Missouri to better prepare current and future workers to meet critical skill demands of business and industry. It marks an innovative change in the way workforce funds are allocated, which improves responsiveness to local economies and maximizes scarce workforce funds. The Skilled Workforce Initiative process produced the following:
- 100% local match, leveraging over one local dollar from community partners for every state dollar invested, more than doubling the funds available to provide workforce services
- simplified accounting, reporting and classification of discretionary projects
- targeted initiatives as opposed to many differing initiatives within inconsistent policy objectives
- clear performance outcomes that will help increase Missouri’s economic competitiveness
- local sustainability, seeding projects that can be imbedded in existing community infra-structure.
Visit DWD’s website for more on the Skilled Workforce Initiative and awards made to local regions for specific projects.