Indiana officials said they’re allocating an additional $25 million from the CARES Act towards the state’s Next Level Jobs program. The program offsets the costs of certain types of training for workers and employers.
Since the state launched its Rapid Recovery plan in June, more than 5,000 workers signed up to take classes, paid for by the state, at places like community colleges. Just more than half already completed their training and got a certification that helps at work.
Pandemic relief measures have temporarily widened the program's scope until the end of the year, allowing those with college degrees to get training paid for and covers more classes than before.
More than 600 employers have also used funding from the Employer Training Grant side of Next Level Jobs to train new or existing workers for jobs. Relief measures increase the maximum an employer can be reimbursed for training from $50,000 to $100,000.
Teresa Lubbers is the chair of the Governor’s Workforce Cabinet and the commissioner for higher education. She said especially among Black and Hispanic Hoosiers, enrollment rates in the NextLevel Jobs program are up, but thousands more could take advantage of it.
“With the additional $25 million in funding that we announced today, we can continue to help Hoosiers skill up or get a better job,” she says.
The original Rapid Recovery plan already allocated $37 million to Next Level Jobs. Now all of that money is used or allocated.
Contact reporter Justin at jhicks@wvpe.org or follow him on Twitter at @Hicks_JustinM.
