PY 08 WIA Youth Incentive Award Plan
The PY 08 Youth Incentive Award funding will be used to operate a Pre-med camp and to target Work Experience funding
for special populations. The Pre-Med camp would provide exposure to high demand and high wage jobs in the medical
profession within Northwest Minnesota. Emphasis would be placed on informing the youth on the hidden or little known
medical careers, such as lab technicians, pharmacy techs, respiratory techs, medical secretaries, dental hygienists, as
as well as the more mainstream careers such as nursing. Three camps or workshops would be provided at various locations
within the area, serving approximately 30 youth.
ICCC Youth Staff would coordinate Pre-Med Camps with the Area Health Education Center (AHEC). They would utilize Health
Program Instructions from Northland Community and Technical College and Health Program Instructors from hospitals and
clinics. This partnership would provide a nice exposure for youth program participants to area health care providers
within the context of career exploration and the real job possibilities and opportunities that exist within Northwest
Minnesota.
The Work Experience would focus on ex-offenders but would serve anyone from the target population. If possible, these
work experience jobs would be green jobs. The planned budget would be used only for participant wages and fringe
benefits.
Manufacturing First Grant
The strength of NW Minnesota, particularly in Roseau and Lake of the Woods counties, is manufacturing. Its weakness
is access to resources of all kinds. Opportunities come from sharing these challenges with multiple businesses; and,
the major regional threat is not having enough people with the right skills and ability to adapt to the rapid changes
in the manufacturing industry. One of the core issues is the perception of what it is like to work in a manufacturing
environment. People nation wide often think manufacturing jobs requires little to no skill, are routine and monotonous
in nature and have little to no career opportunities. Although these are myths, changing these perceptions has to begin
at home in our region. This means manufacturing businesses have to come together to educate our communities, our schools
and our workers.
Additional information about the Manufacturing First Grant
Education Training Collaborative Grant (ETC)
The NWPIC, the NW Service Cooperative Adult Basic Education consortium, the WorkForce Centers in Thief River Falls and
Crookston, and the Northland Community and Technical College (NCTC) campuses in Thief River Falls and East Grand Forks
commit to working together to develop and provide on-site pre-certification Technical Math Skills training directly linked to NCTC’s
Production Welding certificate program.
The goal of this pre-certification class is to address the math deficiencies of the students, either prior to or
concurrent with, their entrance into the Production Welding program in an effort to teach them the math skills
required to be successful in that program. This class would be directly linked to NCTC’s Production Welding
certification program; the first step on a career pathway to completion of a Welding Process technology diploma,
thereby intimately creating a better prepared, more skilled, and more marketable welding workforce for area employers
and manufacturers.
Additional information about the
Education Training Collaborative Grant
Outreach to Schools Grant
Outreach to Schools is a partnership between the Workforce Service Area / Local Workforce Investment Board / Youth Council
and local educational agencies which addresses a major unmet need: a strategy for delivering effective career counseling
and labor market information to the region’s youth and families.
Outreach to Schools will raise local youth and parent customer awareness and usage of Minnesota’s workforce development
system and engage local workforce and economic development partners. This will build on the work the Local Workforce
Investment Board’s in identifying strategic industries and high-growth, in demand occupations.
Additional information about the Outreach to Schools Grant
