Express grants help companies boost training fast

LEG UP: Becky Blaine, practice manager at South County Limb and Brace, works with Joshua R. James, clinical director at the firm. / PBN PHOTO/TRACY JENKINS
LEG UP: Becky Blaine, practice manager at South County Limb and Brace, works with Joshua R. James, clinical director at the firm. / PBN PHOTO/TRACY JENKINS

Bel Air Finishing Supply in North Kingstown first tapped state professional-development grants five years ago when the company was making a push for exports and needed to train workers in overseas marketing.
The grants from the Governor’s Workforce Board helped, but the process of getting them was long, complicated and time consuming, said Bel Air President Steven Alviti.
“The grant writing five years ago, you couldn’t do it by yourself, you had to look for someone to help you do it and it was much more involved,” Alviti said. “You had to be creative and tell a story.”
Since then, the state has refined the program and this year began making smaller awards, called “Express” grants, available through a streamlined process each month in addition to the annual awards.
“It was unbelievably useful and surprisingly painless,” Alviti said about the Express grants process, through which Bel Air secured $2,400 to train three engineers in Solid Works computer-design software. “It seemed like they just took out the unnecessary creativity that you had needed to do to get the grant before.”
The Governor’s Workforce Board created the Express grants in response to concerns from businesspeople like Alviti and out of a desire to open the funding up to a wider range of smaller firms.
“We got feedback from small businesses that smaller grants that could be reviewed more quickly and as needed would be helpful,” said Rick Brooks, executive director of the Governor’s Workforce Board. “What we are pleased about is we have heard positive responses. And we have gotten a large percentage of small businesses and a good mix of sectors.”
Like the annual training grants, the new Express grants are funded through employer tax payments into the state’s Jobs Development Fund. The amount of money available each month in grants depends on Jobs Development Fund collections and the amount committed in previous grant rounds. The grants require a dollar-for-dollar match from the recipient company, which can then use the money to train existing employees in advanced job skills.
If the companies offer a qualified internship program during the school year, they can reduce the match by $2,500.
Unlike the annual grants, which can be as large as $40,000 and often pay for training lasting more than a year, the Express grants have a $5,000 maximum and must be used in 90 days. Each company is allowed only one Express grant per year.
In the program’s first three months this year the Workforce Board approved $102,000 in grants to 25 companies for the training of 440 employees.
Brooks said the Governor’s Workforce Board intends to continue offering the annual grants, although they may have to be scaled back to account for the addition of the Express grants.
In 2012, the state made $1.3 million in annual grants to 83 companies to train 3,800 employees.
The smaller Express grants have opened up professional-development offerings to workers at a much broader range of companies than those who have used the annual grants.
Recipients so far include an automotive tool maker, information technology services provider, engineering firm, home health care provider, plastic-film manufacturer, gift designer and aquarium supplier.
Employees are being trained in areas such as lean manufacturing, catheter insertion, environmental management, social media and sales training.
At South County Artificial Limb and Brace in South Kingstown, Express grants are helping bring the prosthetics shop into the modern era of electronic medical records. Founded in 1976, the business until recently has been managed from an old roll-top desk. But as the owners prepare to hand the company over to a new generation, they are investing in new digital systems.
Faced with training the company’s employees in the new digital-records system, South County Artificial Limb looked to state training grants, but had missed the application period for the annual awards.
With time of the essence but only needing to train four people, the Express grants were a good fit.
“The goal is to bring [trainees] up to speed with technology, patient management and electronic records,” said Becky Blaine, practice manager at South County Artificial Limb. “I had wanted to apply for the larger grants, but the application deadline had passed.”
South County Artificial Limb received a $5,000 grant and brought in an intern from South County Community Action, reducing its matching investment to $2,500.
“It gives her experience and we love the help,” said Becky Blaine, practice manager at South County Artificial Limb. “She is learning a lot of skills and maybe at the end we can hire her if it is feasible. At some point we do plan to hire an office assistant.”
Bel Air Finishing also took advantage of the internship provision and has brought in someone to work at the plant three days a week.
In addition to the greater speed and efficiency of the Express grants, Alviti said he likes that they allow him to focus on making his workers and company more competitive.
“It helps us do stuff that is in our regular realm of manufacturing,” Alviti said. “All manufacturers now have to become more efficient and as an owner that is what I spend 70 percent of my time thinking about. These grants are very easy to use and will make the workforce more competitive.” •

No posts to display