Skills training grants available

- Florida’s Great Northwest is pleased to announce the availability of $2.75 million in grant funding to support training expenses for newly-created high skill, high wage positions in Northwest Florida. The funding is provided through the U.S. Department of Labor WIRED (Workforce Innovation in Regional Economic Development) grant awarded to the organization in 2006, funding Florida’s Great Northwest’s WIRED Northwest Florida Initiative.

Grants ranging from $500 to $5,000 per qualified position are available to businesses within the targeted industries of Aerospace & Defense, Life Sciences, Information Technology, Renewable Energy and Construction Services (commercial, infrastructure or industrial) that create and sustain new positions that meet specified wage and benefit requirements. The maximum grant award is $500,000.

Since the program’s inception in 2006, eight companies in Northwest Florida have applied for and been awarded a total of $947,000 to assist with training expenses related to personnel expansion.

Qualified businesses interested in obtaining more information on the Employee Skills Training grant opportunity offered by Florida’s Great Northwest are encouraged to contact the organization at (850) 337-3469. Grant information, including guidelines and application, can also be found on the organizations’ web site, www.FloridasGreatNorthwest.com.

Florida’s Great Northwest is a regional economic development organization serving 16 counties in Northwest Florida from Pensacola through Tallahassee. Its primary mission is the creation of high-wage, high-skill jobs, branding and marketing, as well as support of the local economic development organizations in the region.