$640,000 awarded to local Workforce Development Board

The Kern, Inyo and Mono Workforce Development Board (KIM WDB) was recently awarded $640,000 by the California Department of Industrial Relations and its Division of Apprenticeship Standards. Funding will go toward the Workforce Development Apprenticeship Program (WDAP) in the Central Valley, Los Angeles and Imperial Counties, and the City of Richmond.

This apprenticeship will address the current and growing gap in the development of staff and will provide employees with a combination of training, with a focus on equity and job quality, meeting the needs of job seekers with special circumstances, and leadership/management skills.

The WDAP will recruit, train and certify 133 apprentices in 13 courses during the life of the grant. These courses result in 144 hours of classroom instruction over 8-12 months. Courses offered in the program include: The Future of Workforce Development Professionals, Managing Successful Projects, Building High Performing Teams, Communicating for Results, Service Excellence, Leading Organizational Change and Business Engagement/Sector Strategies. This program will allow employees to gain the training and expertise needed to effectively manage resources within our agencies.

Employers’ Training Resource, the KIM WDB local Workforce Development Program and a proud partner of America’s Job Center, will be the administrative entity for this grant.