Workforce Innovation Training Grant (WITG)

About the Program

Category: Personnel Management, Employment and Training (Best in Category)

Year: 2015

Franklin County’s Workforce Innovation Training Grant (WITG) is designed to be a catalyst for Franklin County employers that develop innovative training methods to assist in opening a new “line of business” in Franklin County. The grant allows the recipient to implement the training they determine will help them innovate and expand in new methods and markets. The program helps to partially offset the cost of training new and current employees. While numerous workforce training programs exist, many are created with specific federal and state funding sources that limit the uses of the dollars or tie companies into rigid, programmatically-determined training methods. The WITG provides a local incentive flexible enough to allow the private-sector company to be the driver of workforce development innovation. With the need for an ever-expanding highly-skilled workforce, the private-sector must remain the leader in workforce training, and the WITG program not only recognizes but catalyzes this. Since the program officially launched on June 1, 2012, Franklin County has placed seven grants totaling more than $750,000 with area local businesses. The program has helped train 1,890 new and retained employees, and has assisted in creating 836 jobs. The County’s Economic Development and Planning Department administers the program.