A $1.2 million investment in future workers Federal grants may help in training workers to meet changing times By Ray Barrington News-Chronicle A $1.2 million grant from the federal government may be a drop in the bucket for federal spending. But Jim Golembeski of the Bay Area Workforce Development Board sees it as seed money that can help the eastern Wisconsin economy. The board recently received a $1.2 million grant for worker training, one of several grants the area has received. All are aimed at employers. "We're investing a million-two in the workforce of Northeast Wisconsin," he said. "By doing that, we're hoping to help some area companies to stay competitive and stay in the area." In Brown County, the grant will assist the Employers Workforce Development Network. "That training is going to go to a variety of things, including (English as a second language) in the workplace, but also to work with folks to get them into higher-level positions in some of these companies," he said. "In some cases, we'll be innovating, trying to take next steps in the kinds of training that people will need." Sheboygan County will also get money for ESL training. A grant for Door County, through its economic arm, will pay for classes at Bay Shipbuilding run by NWTC. "Sturgeon Bay has a strong manufacturing base, but some real problems. Property values are sky-high," he said. In Marinette, the money will go to changes in the economy. Marinette Marine is losing some of its government contracts, and has to get ready for new business. "They're looking at moving into other markets in the shipbuilding industry, and this should help," Golembeski said. Similar changes in the past have been a target, he said. Three major paper companies left the area, and new training helped workers fit into the industries that remained. KEEPING THE WORKFORCE STRONG It's all a part, Golembeski says, of keeping a strong workforce in this area. Doing so keeps businesses here, rather than seeing them move to other states or countries. "Workers with good skills keep companies here and bring more companies here," he said. The grant, he said, "allows us to be more proactive, to begin to work with companies before they get into trouble and have to close. Both in the sense of keeping the economically competitive, and in the sense that if Northeast Wisconsin is a place with a skilled workforce, they may stay here and close someplace else. "By keeping the companies here, we never have to spend the money on the dislocated workers, because they're never dislocated." It also helps in keeping the kind of jobs here that draw people. "Remember a couple of years ago, we had a labor shortage before this slowdown," he said. "Industry absorbed a lot of people who were not as highly skilled as they may have been able to get in the past. Look at the fact that there aren't a lot of people on welfare any more. These people are all in the workforce. Or you have the normal thing where the skill sets that are required change very, very quickly." That was the case in Marinette when paper mill jobs left. With the help of Northeast Wisconsin Technical College, training in metal work helped workers stay in the area. "The technical colleges are very flexible," said Golembeski. "NWTC set up three shifts of classes, matching the workers' schedule." BATTLING FOR MONEY Ironically, the grant that Golembeski's group received started as a proposal for a different grant, which the group didn't get. "My partners and I had originally (answered) a solicitation by the Department of Labor,' he said. "We didn't get funded, but thanks to the efforts of Sen. Herb Kohl (D-Wis.), we did through a different process." And the help will be needed, Golembeski says. "As soon as the economy heats up, we're going to see not just a labor shortage, but a skill shortage," he said. "Workers are going to be gobbled up very quickly." Things will be tough for unskilled workers, however. "The low-skill jobs, whether you like it or not, are going elsewhere," he said. "It's cheaper to pay someone else 27 cents a week in some other country than to keep those jobs here. The jobs we create here have to be value-added jobs with higher skill levels." "Businesses want to know where the workers are coming from."