In This Issue..

• Major Opportunities
• Daniels Names Penca
• North Central Indiana WIRED
• Strategic Skills Initiative on Web

About this Newsletter

Welcome to the latest issue of Workforce Developments, a monthly e-mail newsletter from the Indiana Department of Workforce Development.

This newsletter is designed to keep Indiana policy and opinion makers and other officials up to date on activities taking place in workforce development across the state. Please forward it to others you believe might find the content useful. If you prefer not to receive this newsletter, unsubscribe information is available at the bottom of this mailing.

Major opportunities geared for minorities in building, construction trades.

Registration is now open for a new training program geared toward preparing minority workers with skills in the building and construction trades.

Classes will begin in November in Indianapolis, Gary, South Bend, Fort Wayne and Evansville for the “Major Opportunities” training program, which was enacted by the Indiana General Assembly earlier this year as part of Governor Mitch Daniels’ Major Moves initiative.

Governor Daniels helped launch the program with several news conferences across the state. Training providers have been selected and registration for participants has begun for the new program, which is expected to provide training for 640 people statewide in its first year. During the current fiscal year, $1.6 million has been committed, with an additional $350,000 available to training providers as incentives for high rates of program completion, placement and retention.

“Indiana is entering a building boom, a unique chance for young people, and especially minority youngsters, to get a good-paying job and a strong start in life,” said Daniels, who discussed the new program today at the Ft. Wayne Urban League. “We’re going to experience record opportunities, so we want everyone to know about these jobs and that the state can help them get the skills needed to obtain one.”

For more information, go here.

Governor Daniels taps Andrew Penca to Lead DWD

Governor Daniels has named Andrew Penca to succeed Ron Stiver as commissioner of the Department of Workforce Development. Ron Stiver has been named by the Governor as commissioner of the Department of Motor Vehicles.

Both appointments were effective October 16.

Penca said his main priority will be to continue to implement the new initiatives begun over the last twenty months, with a strong focus on customer service. “With our new workforce delivery system, the unemployment insurance modernization project, Major Opportunities and other reforms and improvements underway, our main focus will be to see these projects implemented successfully. Certainly, we will make any adjustments as needed as we proceed, but we’ve made great progress to date, and my overall priority is to move these programs along to help the Governor achieve the Indiana comeback.”

Penca has served as deputy commissioner of strategic research and development at DWD since February of 2005. Prior to joining the agency, he worked at A.G. Edwards and also served as assistant manager and senior specialist at Honda R&D Americas, Inc. He has completed a two-year Professional Certification/Designation program at UCLA in the area of International Trade and Commerce and graduated from the University of Southern California (USC) with an MBA in finance and accounting.

North Central Indiana WIRED for $15 million federal workforce grant

Progress continues in North Central Indiana as a consortium of workforce and economic development officials work with university and business officials to increase regional cooperation on economic and workforce development efforts, promote entrepreneurship and connect businesses to qualified workers.

Earlier this year, the 14-county region was awarded a $15 million grant from the U.S. Department of Labor’s Workforce Innovations in Regional Economic Development, or WIRED program. The project is being managed by Purdue University, which recently hired Mark C. Smith as project manager. Smith will work directly with Purdue's Center for Regional Development to help transform the region into a high-performance production economy. Smith will work on collaborative ventures with business, education and government officials to create new economic opportunities and high-paying jobs.

In addition to Purdue, strategic partnership members include Workforce Development Strategies, Inc., North Central Indiana and Tecumseh Area Workforce Investment Boards, Lafayette-West Lafayette Economic Development Corporation, Greater Lafayette Venture Club, Lafayette School Corporation, Ivy Tech Community College, Indiana University Kokomo, Kokomo/Howard County Development Corporation, and several units of local government.

The grant is administered through the Indiana Department of Workforce Development.

Strategic Skills Initiative Reports on Web

As reported in the last issue of Workforce Developments, the Department of Workforce Development has concluded its initial round of grants to the regions under the state’s Strategic Skills Initiative.

The Department has posted all of the reports submitted by the regions to the state under this program. These programs contain a wealth of research, demographic data, and plans to address projected regional skills and occupational shortages.

The Strategic Skills Initiative web page can be accessed by going here.

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