Grant helps dislocated workers

Published on Friday, July 10, 2009 3:24 PM MDT

Montana’s Department of Labor and Industry this week announced a new $100,000 federal grant award from the U.S. Department of Labor to its Apprenticeship and Training Program.

The grant is designed to strengthen partnerships between Montana’s registered Apprenticeship program and dislocated workers and other unemployed individuals.

“This grant will help create opportunities for those going through hard times to get back to work,” Department of Labor and Industry commissioner Keith Kelly said. “It has been a goal of the governor’s administration to support and advance apprenticeship programs.”

The grant funds will help train and prepare individuals for careers in growing apprenticeship industries including those related to green technologies, fund new curriculum and contribute to an upgraded database to coordinate Montana’s Apprenticeship information with a national system. The funding will also help offset the cost of adjusting to new federal requirements for registered apprenticeship programs.

Registered Apprenticeship is an “earn while you learn” model that provides a combination of on-the-job learning and related classroom instruction in which workers learn the practical and theoretical aspects of a highly skilled occupation.

Montana’s Apprenticeship and Training Program currently has more than 600 employer sponsors for approximately 1,500 registered apprentices working in 50 different occupations.

“This grant is very exciting,” said Mark Maki, state director for DLI’s Apprenticeship and Training Program. “It compliments and helps tremendously the outreach work we’re already doing with employers/sponsors, job service centers, higher education and community-based job training programs.”

A dislocated worker is someone who has been terminated, laid off or received a “notice of termination of layoff” due to permanent plant closure, substantial layoffs, etc. This worker could also be self-employed, but the economy or a natural disaster has put them out of work. A dislocated worker could be a displaced homemaker who is either unemployed or working a job that does not support their household.

Twenty-two state apprenticeship agencies and the National Association of State and Territorial Apprenticeship Directors (NASTAD) are receiving funding under this effort. Montana received the maximum grant amount awarded.

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