Thanks to a potential partnership and a potential grant, Waseca could get a workforce development center that focuses on career pathways and regional upskilling of the existing workforce.
Kathryn Leys, a University of Minnesota Extension community economics educator, gave a presentation about the FORWARD program to the Waseca County Board of Commissioners at their June 18 meeting. The board also talked about a grant which will supply funds for a workforce development center in Waseca.
Federal EDA infrastructure grant
Waseca has been in the planning process for a workforce development center over the past couple years. The location and scope of the project has changed over that time, but the county decided to use an underutilized space in the lower level of the Community Services Building in Waseca for the proposed center.
The reason Waseca is going forward with the center is due to an increased demand for high-skilled laborers statewide. Businesses in Waseca County are especially having difficulty finding workers due to being in a rural area.
Waseca County will focus on regional upskilling of the existing workforce and providing career pathways for those entering the workforce with the center to help the county experience less economic hardship.
To help with the construction cost of the center, the county applied for a federal Economic Development Authority(EDA) infrastructure grant. If awarded, the grant could cover up to 80% of the construction cost, which is estimated to be around $1.9 million. $1.3 million of that will be used for the inside of the building while the other $600,000 will be for parking lot remodeling, sidewalk access, ADA accessibility, and grading and sloping.
The county requested a federal match of up to 80% of the project cost, but recognized that it could receive less. The board of commissioners authorized the county to have $600,000 for the local match to be spent on the construction of the project at their June 18 meeting.
The local match authorized by the commissioners allowed the county to submit their request for the grant, which was due on Friday June 21. The county had many letters of support from government officials and colleges with the request.
Waseca’s Economic Development manager Tina Wilson was at the meeting and worked together with Waseca County Administrator Michael Johnson on the workforce development center and grant process.
“We just feel like this is a really good place for us to start, and kind of helps us lay that foundation for what are some other ways to strengthen Waseca and the community,” Wilson said.
FORWARD program
Before the board of commissioners voted unanimously to approve the local match for the grant, Kathryn Leys of the University of Minnesota Extension talked about the FORWARD program, which could be a huge benefit and factor for the workforce development center.
“This is a program that we are piloting in Minnesota and Tina [Wilson] came up to me and she described some of the work with the workforce center that you guys are interested in building,” Leys said to the commissioners about the FORWARD program. “This program seems to go hand-in-hand with that work.”
The goal of the program is to assist local governments in identifying the community’s needs for workforce development and to generate new opportunities for low-income workers and connect them with available jobs.
The program intends to work with communities that have barriers to the workforce, and Waseca County is a good fit since being a rural county is a barrier.
One of the key things the program intends to do is develop key partnerships within the community.
“You guys have a lot of large businesses that are interested in workforce development and getting more workers, but there’s also small businesses that need those workers as well,” Leys said.
The program strives to build relationships between employees and employers to help build the workforce. Since the program is a pilot program, there wouldn’t be any cost to the county if it decides to join and collaborate with the University of Minnesota Extension.
“There isn’t any cost to the county to move forward with this,” Wilson said. “What there is is an observation in essence of time and talents.”
Commissioner De Malterer questioned if the program would still be of value to the county if everything fell apart when it came to the workforce development center and the infrastructure grant. Johnson assured the board that it would not prevent them from moving forward with the FORWARD program.
Leys and the University of Minnesota Extension do not have an agreement or a document set for the county yet. Johnson will bring one to the board when it is set up by Extension and describes the actual commitment.
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