The Workforce Innovation Grant Program rewards creativity, promotes sustainable regional collaboration and fosters local accountability and participation to address regional workforce challenges. A joint effort between WEDC and the Department of Workforce Development, the program provides each grant recipient up to $10 million in funding to help make their workforce solution plans a reality.
Explore the grant recipients map below to learn about these innovators.
Workforce Innovation Grant Program Summary
FUELING STATEWIDE INNOVATION
More than $128 million awarded in 27 Workforce Innovation Grants
COLLABORATING WITH LOCAL ORGANIZATIONS AND STAKEHOLDERS
193 partners including 22 school districts, 11 technical colleges, eight UW Universities
ADDRESSING KEY WORKFORCE CHALLENGES
Barriers to entry, career training, child care, skills training, entrepreneurship, health services, housing, transportation
CREATING STRONGER COMMUNITIES
Providing direct benefit in all of Wisconsin’s 72 counties
Chippewa Valley Technical College | up to ~$10 million
Serving Buffalo, Chippewa, Clark, Dunn, Eau Claire, Jackson, Pepin, Pierce, St. Croix, Taylor, and Trempealeau counties, Chippewa Valley Technical College proposed using these funds for the Restoring Employment through Support, Training, Outreach, Recruitment, and Education (RESTORE) project. This project will use a multi-pronged approach to address the need for skilled workers in metal fabrication across the manufacturing sector through outreach, short-term training with integrated educational pathways, and contextualized and work-based learning opportunities. The project model includes multi-purpose training centers and mobile labs, strategically integrated in rural regions, to be utilized by high schools and employers.
University of Wisconsin-Eau Claire | up to ~$9.4 million
Serving 16 counties across the state, the proposal provided by the University of Wisconsin-Eau Claire provides a comprehensive, multi-pillared approach to alleviate workforce shortages in key areas of healthcare, education, and social services while improving the health and wellbeing of families and individuals in rural regions of Wisconsin. Partnering with local school districts and social services organizations, the University will work to place education and social work students in rural settings to encourage them to stay and build their careers. The program will also partner with Mayo Clinic Health System-Northwest WI to create innovative curriculum and clinical experiences to graduate more nurses. Additionally, this proposal includes building a foundation for long-term talent development in high demand, family sustaining careers by creating new degree programs in growing healthcare fields, including public health, healthcare management, and psychiatry. This proposal also looks to partner with Mayo to pilot a new innovative care-coach model and rural healthcare hubs to bring better care and upskilled career possibilities to rural communities. Finally, in partnership with Mayo, WiSys, and the University’s Small Business Development Center, the plan will provide main street business owners will skills to innovate, adapt to challenges, and grow.
Mid-State Technical College | up to ~$9 million
Serving Wood, Portage, Adams, Waushara, Juneau, Jackson, Clark, and Marathon counties, Mid-State Technical College, Centergy, and their partners have proposed using the funds to build a regional collaboration around workforce challenges in the central region of Wisconsin to target 2,500 unemployed, underemployed, underserved communities, and youth with skill training and barrier-removing support services. This includes the construction of the Advanced Manufacturing, Engineering Technology, and Apprenticeship Center in the region.
University of Wisconsin Administration | up to ~$5.7 million
Serving counties across the state through the Wisconsin Department of Corrections, the University of Wisconsin Prison Education Initiative (PEI) will deliver workforce-ready curriculum to teach employable skills to students while incarcerated and continue supporting them post-release through program completion and career placement. Piloting the program will engage six regions of the state with programs through UW-Oshkosh, UW-Milwaukee, UW-Parkside, UW-Green Bay, and UW-Madison, along with Extended Campus.
Gateway Technical College | up to ~$5.6 million
Serving Kenosha, Racine, and Walworth counties, Gateway Technical College was awarded these funds for the Southeast Wisconsin’s Talent Optimization Project (SWTOP) to address the biggest regional workforce challenges, including the urgent need for educated workers in high-demand fields and the large number of adults who cannot address that need due to lacking high school credentials. This project will offer a 4-week pre-HSED (High School Equivalency Diploma) program, followed by a 16-week Work Ready (WR) HSED program. Courses will be offered in-person and online, onsite classes will be centrally located and offered both during the day and in the evening, transportation and childcare services will be sourced as needed, and individual case management will provide support services and guidance to keep students on track.
City of Kenosha | up to ~$990,000
Serving Kenosha County, the city of Kenosha proposed using these funds to partner with Gener8tor to bring an entrepreneurship skilling program to the city, specifically to work with startup founders of color and women founders in Kenosha. The programing, known as gBETA, will provide coaching, mentorship, and networking needed to develop the workforce of entrepreneurs in the city to build strong, sustainable companies, and therefore, create strong, sustainable jobs.
Green County Family YMCA | up to ~$3.7 million
Serving Green County, Green County Family YMCA will use these funds to facilitate the addition of a 5,000 sq. ft. state-of-the-art daycare and preschool wing for licensed programs and classes, as well as an addition of a 6,000 sq. ft. Youth Development Wing. Through a partnership with Big Brothers Big Sisters, Vitality Youth Services, Jacob’s Swag, Avenue’s Counseling, and the Multicultural Outreach program this investment will help Green County Family YMCA meet the diverse needs of area youth.
United Way of Door County | up to ~$3.5 million
Serving Door County, United Way of Door County were awarded funds to make changes to existing childcare facilities in the county. Following the work of United Way of Door County’s community childcare task force, two local nonprofit licensed group childcare centers are revising their business models. These new business models require changes to the childcare facilities and United Way of Door County was awarded these funds to make those changes to the existing space, as well as construct a new space.
Boys & Girls Clubs of Greater Milwaukee, Inc. | up to ~$3.3 million
Serving Milwaukee and Waukesha counties, the Boys & Girls Clubs of Greater Milwaukee and its partner agencies and employers plan to use these funds for the Ready Center Collective (RCC) to launch a new approach to teen workforce training, credentialing, and employment engagement. In partnership with Milwaukee Public Schools, Employ Milwaukee, Milwaukee Area Technical College, Herzing University, and more than a dozen large scale employers serving Milwaukee, the RCC is an alliance of workforce partners intent on increasing the rate in which Milwaukee’s teens are positively engaging in the area’s workforce. The training building will include seven classroom training spaces and the programmatic approach is multi-tiered, providing teens the opportunity to sample career pathways, immerse themselves in occupational skills training experiences, and engage in internships and apprenticeships.
Operation Fresh Start | up to ~$3.3 million
Serving Dane County, Operation Fresh Start proposes using these funds for an innovative program design to solve trades employment workforce issues in the south-central region of Wisconsin, known as Build Academy. Build Academy is an innovative industry-informed collaborative job training and education program designed to prepare the next generation of construction and conservation workers for successful careers, providing real life on-site work experience with classroom and training lab education.
Madison Area Technical College | up to ~$2.9 million
Serving Adams, Columbia, Dane, Dodge, Green, Iowa, Jefferson, Juneau, Marquette, Richland, Rock, and Sauk counties, Madison Area Technical College proposed using funds to address two significant pandemic-related workforce issues in South Central Wisconsin, including childcare and training and upskilling for in-demand jobs. MATC plans to bolster the pipeline of high-quality childcare professions by leveraging partnerships to provide more care, support childcare facilities in improving quality ratings and accessing financial resources, and support working families with dedicated navigational support at MATC. Additionally, MATC plans to develop new avenues to accessing in-demand skills training in advanced manufacturing, healthcare, and information technology through collaborative community partnerships.
Sauk Prairie School District | up to ~$2.4 million
Serving Columbia, Dane, and Sauk counties, the Sauk Prairie School District plans to use these funds to provide an innovative solution to address the workforce needs of the region’s advanced manufacturers, agricultural science employers, and healthcare providers. Currently, needs are not being met due to outdated training spaces and equipment, creating a skills gap in the area. This project will lead to sustainable training for apprentices, current students, and current employees by bringing employers into the school building and students into the region’s employers.
Wisconsin Community Action Program Association | up to ~4.9 million
As the pandemic dramatically increased health care needs, the significant demands on health care professionals caused some to take early retirement while many others left the profession. This staffing shortage has caused facilities to reduce their services and limit admissions. This is particularly true at long-term care facilities. The Wisconsin Community Action Program Association, in collaboration with 11 partners, will work with 142 vulnerable, low-income individuals to enroll them in study and training programs, covering tuition and other expenses and providing ongoing coaching to enable completion of study and obtain employment in the healthcare industry. Serving individuals in 48 counties across Wisconsin, participants will have the opportunity to train on-site at long-term care facilities with the opportunity for immediate employment.
Community Relations-Social Development Corporation | up to ~$5.1 million
Half of Milwaukee’s families lack access to quality, affordable early childhood education (ECE), and the gaps are most profound in Black and Brown communities. These gaps are attributable to ECE providers’ inability to recruit and retain qualified and motivated staff. Serving areas of Milwaukee with predominantly low-income Black and Brown populations, the nine partners in the Early Childhood Education Workforce Training project plan to develop an innovative ECE workforce training and pipeline program for 105 trainees over three years. Highlights of the program include free training for participants that results in stackable/portable credentials, services to help students overcome career barriers, support for ECE providers, and placement services to guide program graduates to partner ECE sites.
Wisconsin Heights School District | up to ~$264,000
Serving Columbia, Dane, Iowa, Jefferson and Sauk counties, the Wisconsin Heights School District and its four partners will tackle the extraordinary teacher shortage faced by rural districts and exacerbated by the pandemic. The GROW school districts plan to “grow our own” teachers. The program begins with current high school students and continues through college. In high school, participating students will take up to 12 credits through UW-Whitewater, while also being mentored by classroom teachers at the grade level or subject area they are interested in teaching. Participating students will also be eligible for scholarships to help defray college expenses; those students must agree to be interviewed by one of the GROW districts and, if hired, commit to teaching for at least three years in a GROW district. Each of the three school districts involved will have at least one candidate participating in the program each cycle.
Lac Courte Oreilles Band of Lake Superior Chippewa | up to ~$4.6 million
The Lac Courte Oreilles tribal community’s leading economic industries – tourism and entertainment – were shut down due to the pandemic, leading to furloughs and layoffs for a substantial portion of the workforce. Compounding this challenge is a decline in affordable housing options in the area and the lack of infrastructure to support housing options with a dedicated water source. The project will extend water infrastructure for a 32-unit workforce housing complex to be constructed in 2025 at the tribe’s expense. The project will use Smart Growth principles by fostering collaboration of community stakeholders – to make decisions that are fair and cost effective, with a goal of creating a variety of housing opportunities to accommodate the workforce. The housing complex will be only 1.5 miles from the second largest area employer – Sevenwinds Casino.
Northwood Technical College | up to ~$9.8 million
Northwood Technical College, in collaboration with Impact Seven, is planning a two-pronged approach to help overcome the worker shortage in Ashland, Barron, Bayfield, Burnett, Douglas, Iron, Polk, Rusk, St. Croix, Sawyer and Washburn counties. To help prepare workers with the skills that employers require, the college will allocate up to $4 million to advanced manufacturing equipment and fund non-campus and campus training locations. This will provide training to unemployed/underemployed adults, including underserved populations, who lack skills to enter middle and high-skilled jobs in the advanced manufacturing industry and increase their average pay. For its part, Impact Seven will establish a housing fund of up to $6 million to increase the availability of affordable workforce housing and reduce risk on multi-family rental housing projects. Through Workforce Accelerators, the project will provide on-site training by extending classroom space to locations the community’s workers can access with their affordable housing options.
Goodwill Industries of North Central Wisconsin | up to ~$6.5 million
Calumet, Outagamie, Waupaca, Waushara and Winnebago face a steep demographic challenge: more workers are aging out of the workforce than there are younger people seeking employment. In fact, the region reports nearly two available jobs for every one person in the workforce. Recognizing that trauma and mental health conditions are significant barriers to employment and the pandemic has dramatically increased the number of people experiencing mental health conditions, this collaborative program from Fox Valley Technical College (FVTC), Rawhide Youth Services and Goodwill will train over 200 trainers at FVTC to use a trauma-informed approach to education and services. The program will engage local men’s and women’s shelters and community organizations to reach up to 460 individuals during the grant period from unserved and underserved populations in the area workforce.
Local Initiatives Support Corporation | up to ~$5.0 million
In Milwaukee County, 199 early child education (ECE) providers have closed during the pandemic, resulting in the estimated loss of 642 jobs and the loss of child care for 6,000 families – disproportionately in underserved neighborhoods. The problem is compounded by the lack of affordable housing for ECE workers, who typically pay more than half of their income for housing (traditionally, anything above 30% is considered a burden). The eight partners in this initiative will build affordable homes for ECE teachers to purchase. The pilot project will build 50 homes for ECE teachers in Milwaukee and will compare hiring and retention with a control group. When successful, the pilot will be replicated at scale by philanthropic and government housing subsidies to develop up to 200 units per year for ECE teachers. Further, the housing will be developed by LISC Milwaukee Associates in Commercial Real Estate (ACRE) Program graduates – including developers from BIPOC and other disadvantaged backgrounds. The ACRE Program works to expand representation and inclusion in real estate fields.
Board of Regents of the UW System | up to ~$376,000
Serving Brown, Manitowoc and Winnebago counties, UW-Green Bay, HSHS St. Vincent Hospital and Aurora BayCare are targeting the ongoing trend of health care staffing shortages in Northeast Wisconsin, made dramatically worse by the pandemic. Wisconsin nursing programs produce 3,000 nurses per year, and at that current replacement rate, the shortage of RNs in Wisconsin could increase to nearly 20,000 by 2035. This program will provide clinical training to 152 nursing students over the 2.5-year project period. An innovative model, the program is based on a co-clinical instructor program that will build nursing faculty capacity through collaboration between local health care employers and UW-Green Bay’s nursing program. The project will strengthen the partnerships between the academic and health care organizations and ensure a pipeline of new nurses into the workforce both locally and around the state. It is intended to sustain an annual capacity of 80 students after the initial project period, growing as additional partners are identified.
Lakeshore Technical College | up to ~1.7 million
Serving Calumet, Manitowoc, Ozaukee and Sheboygan counties, Lakeshore Technical College and its eight partners plan to bring career-focused education to underserved populations (homeless, previously institutionalized, and/or low income) who have experienced lower levels of workforce participation and greater socio-economic hardships due to the pandemic. The Lakeshore Industry 4.0 Pathways and Upskilling project will meet underserved populations where they are in the community – parking lots, community-based organizations, short-term employers, and rural high schools to reduce barriers like transportation, child care, and intimidation in accessing education and connecting with employers. The program will use a mobile career pathways model to upskill current production workers and machine operators to help them better understand automation and robotics, and it will provide a mobile training lab to fill manufacturing labor shortages for production workers and machine operators.
Wisconsin Forestry Center | up to ~$8 million
In seven of Wisconsin’s Northwoods counties, the forestry industry faces a severe workforce challenge due to an aging workforce that is retiring early or is experienced in older forestry practices, with another 25% expected to exit within five years. Meanwhile, “brain drain” is removing the younger workforce as they move away from their local communities for other educational or professional opportunities. In a program spearheaded by UW-Stevens Point and eight partners, future workers will be introduced to the advanced technologies that are considered the future of the forestry industry. Modeled after a successful initiative in Butte, Montana, which has graduated 300 new employees since it started in 2019, this program first focuses on awareness building by exposing young people to forestry career opportunities at both public and Menominee Nation K-12 programs. It further develops career skills, combining a hands-on certificate-bearing high school curriculum with a skills camp, taught by trained teachers and industry professionals. Finally, the program includes immersion training, designed to immediately address workforce challenges through six-week forestry operations (FO) and five-week mill technology (MT) certificates to upskill and re-skill participants.
MobiliSE | up to ~$4.2 million
The pandemic has exacerbated the career barriers of transportation and child care. In Milwaukee, 46% of working households are headed by single mothers. Without reliable transportation, access to quality child care and a good job are limited. And too often, workforce transportation focuses on the home to work trip and leaves child care out of the equation, thus not serving working parents – disproportionately, single mothers. In this project, the eight partners of MobiliSE will expand the FlexRide program, which was successfully launched as a pilot in March. FlexRide positions child care centers as “mobility hubs” to provide safe, convenient, and welcoming pickup spots for FlexRiders. Further, the expansion will include more job centers throughout the region and high-quality child care centers on key bus routes in Milwaukee, where working parents will be able to get rides directly to job centers throughout the region. Additionally, emergency rides home will be provided to participants, and community liaisons will be hired to assist working parents in navigating the child care and employment market.
Boys & Girls Club of Dane County | up to $3.5 million
According to Madison Area Builders Association, over 1,500 family sustaining jobs in the building trades remain unfilled in the region. Serving Dane and Walworth counties, the Boys & Girls Club, along with its five partners, are launching the Careerforce Build Up! Program to engage youth and young adults up to age 24 who are already part of the organization’s youth development programs. The skilled trades program at the McKenzie Regional Workforce Center will train and support youth who are interested in pursuing careers as electricians, plumbers, carpenters, and HVAC specialists. The program will also include entrepreneurial classes to show youth how they can build their own businesses in the construction trades to generate transformational change for underrepresented and underserved families in South Central Wisconsin.
Down Syndrome Association of Wisconsin | up to ~$9 million
People with intellectual and developmental disabilities (PWIDD) historically face employment discrimination, a problem made worse by the pandemic. In addition, there are significant gaps in successful transition-related services in Wisconsin for the 421,200 workforce-eligible PWIDD. Serving residents in more than 50 counties, the Down Syndrome Association of Wisconsin and its eight partners aim to tackle these challenges through Thinkability WI. This initiative will address the challenges in a two-pronged approach. The first provides immediate impact by educating and training PWIDD and their families through wraparound Transition Oriented System of Care (TOSC), increasing the number of trained workers for manufacturing and hospitality jobs. The second prong will initiate long-term change by focusing externally to improve societal expectations, form coalitions and create additional access, implement public service campaigns to raise expectations and reduce barriers to employment for PWIDD.
Waupaca County Economic Development Association | up to ~$3.2 million
Transportation insecurity is a significant issue for employee retention in rural Wisconsin, especially for people of color and employees who live in low-income households. Serving Waupaca and Outagamie counties, this program will use the Mobility as a Service (MaaS) and mobility management model – the practice of using all available resources and developing new ones to improve mobility, increase efficiency and reduce cost. This program will provide a 24/7 call center and web/mobile apps so employees and employers can arrange for transportation. The program will coordinate local stakeholders to increase transportation options, including: 1) a new Micro-Transit Service (5 vehicles, including one accessible minivan, service available 24/7 or as defined by employer schedules; 2) volunteer drivers; and 3) local taxi companies to provide up to 26,000 rides each year. In the future, the program is expected to expand to meet other community needs, including health care and food insecurity.
Southwestern Technical College | up to ~$2.9 million
The Southwestern Wisconsin counties of Crawford, Grant, Iowa, Lafayette and Richland faces a median income that is 9% below state average and 12% below national average, with a high percentage of the population – especially women and non-whites – living below the poverty line. In addition, the region experienced a retirement exodus of workers over age 55 during the pandemic. To address this challenge, Southwestern Technical College (SWTC) and its 11 partners – including major employers – are launching the Advance Southwest Wisconsin program to help businesses train more than 518 employees, hire another 343, and promote at least 68 incumbent workers in three years. The program will provide custom upskill training that includes tech training using a state-of-the-art mobile training unit; advanced technology expertise, leveraging SWTC’s technical programs and on into UW-Platteville engineering programs; and targeted employee support, helping the area’s most at-risk employees overcome barriers to entry.
Round 1 Workforce Innovation Grants
Boys & Girls Clubs of Greater Milwaukee, Milwaukee
Chippewa Valley Technical College, Eau Claire
City of Kenosha, Kenosha
Gateway Technical College, Racine
Green County YMCA, Monroe
Madison Area Technical College, Madison
Mid-State Technical College, Wisconsin Rapids
Operation Fresh Start, Madison
Sauk Prairie School District, Prairie du Sac
United Way of Door County, Sturgeon Bay
University of Wisconsin Administration, Madison
University of Wisconsin-Eau Claire, Eau Claire
Round 2 Workforce Innovation Grants
Board of Regents of the University of Wisconsin System, Green Bay
Boys & Girls Club of Dane County, Madison
Community Relations – Social Development Commission, Milwaukee
Down Syndrome Association of Wisconsin, Inc., West Allis
Goodwill Industries of North Central Wisconsin, Menasha
Lac Courte Oreilles Band of Lake Superior Chippewa, Hayward
Lakeshore Technical College, Cleveland
Local Initiatives Support Corporation, Milwaukee
MobiliSE, Milwaukee
Northwood Technical College, Rice Lake
Southwestern Wisconsin Technical College, Fennimore
Waupaca County Economic Development Corporation, New London
Wisconsin Community Action Program Association, Madison
Wisconsin Forestry Center, Stevens Point
Wisconsin Heights School District, Mazomanie
If you have any questions about the Workforce Innovation Grant program, please email us at Workforceinnovation@wedc.org
ADDITIONAL WORKFORCE INITIATIVES
The Workforce Innovation Grant Program is just one way the state of Wisconsin is working to solve some of the most important challenges in your region. Wisconsin’s more than $128 million commitment to developing workforce solutions also includes two additional programs:
- The Worker Advancement Initiative offers subsidized employment and skills training opportunities with local employers.
- The Worker Connection Program provides support for individuals attempting to reengage in the workforce and expand their opportunities in the post-pandemic economy.
