ASHLAND — Ashland County’s North Central Workforce Alliance (NCWA) recently received a $100,000 grant from the Governor’s Office of Workforce Transformation.
The Industry Sector Partnership Grant aims to “fund collaboration between businesses, education and training providers, and other community leaders who are invested in improving their region’s workforce.”
Thirty-five grants were distributed to organizations across the state, totaling $5.1 million in grants awarded.
The organization received the Industry Sector Partnership’s Spark Grant. The grant provides NCWA with $50,000 in “seed funding” up front. The rest of the funding is available as a match for funds raised.
(Below is a PDF of the Industry Sector Partnership Grant awardees.)
This grant cycle, the application was due at the end of October 2024. The Governor’s Office of Workforce Transformation announced grant recipients on Jan. 28.
Erv Howard, executive director of the NCWA, said the nonprofit had applied for the grant previously.
“This whole grant that we applied for is word-for-word what we do,” Howard said. “It was kind of a no-brainer in that it matches everything that we have done for the last 10 years.”
The NCWA aims to bring together businesses, educators, students and parents in hopes of bolstering the workforce by filling companies’ needs.
What will the NCWA use the funding for?
Part of the NCWA’s goal as an organization is to share resources and strategies among area businesses so they can train and retain qualified employees. It does that work through several events throughout the year.
Howard said the grant NCWA received will provide funding for some of those events.
Namely, it’ll help pay for Destination Career, a Junior Achievement program that introduces students to career opportunities in a hands-on manner. It will also provide funding for NCWA’s teacher bootcamps, which take place in June.
The organization plans to host a new event this year: a parents’ night.
A date for that event is to be determined, but Howard said the organization hopes to offer parents a chance to hear about career options in the area and what skills employers are searching for.
It’s also NCWA’s 10th anniversary this year. Howard hopes part of the grant funding can help with ongoing efforts to revamp the nonprofit’s website. He envisions the site becoming a hub with job opportunities for students to explore.
