IDL extending deadline to submit plans

The Idaho Department of Labor is extending the deadline by four weeks for submitting proposals for a new labor force training initiative that brings industry and educational institutions together in a partnership designed to enhance the skills of Idaho workers.

Under the extension, proposals from educational institutions that have partnered at least three businesses will be due no later than noon (MT) Oct. 4.

Under the Industry Sector Grant program, three two-year grants of up to $1 million each will be made to educational institutions and their partners to train workers in a target occupation critical to the partner businesses. The business partners must provide a 25 percent cash match to the department grant, which will come from the industry financed Workforce Development Training Fund.

The initiative, approved by the Idaho Workforce Development Council, is the first major departure in use of the Workforce Development Training Fund since its creation in 1996. The fund, financed by a 3 percent set-aside of the unemployment insurance taxes paid by businesses, has reimbursed employers for training workers for new jobs or retraining workers who would otherwise be laid off. The fund, which has been Idaho’s premier economic development incentive, has trained over 20,000 workers for more than 200 Idaho companies in the last 17 years. Training reimbursement is provided only for jobs that pay at least $12 an hour and include employer-assisted medical benefits in industries that produce goods or services marketed primarily outside the employers’ operating regions.

Complete details on the grant initiative including the application format are available online at http://labor.idaho.gov/pdf/wdtf_rfp.pdf. Grant proposals must be submitted electronically in pdf, or portable document format, to jennifer.hemly@labor.idaho.gov.