| Four credit unions and three community banks received grants from the commonwealth’s Workforce Training Fund Program to cover costs associated with employee training, developing worker skills, increasing productivity and enhancing the competitiveness of Massachusetts’ businesses.
The recipients are Fitchburg-based IC Federal Credit Union, Gardner-based GFA Federal Credit Union, Ludlow-based Luso Federal Credit, Millbury Credit Union, Newton-based Village Bank, Medway-based Charles River Bank and South Weymouth-based South Shore Bank.
Overall, the program awarded $11.9 million to 121 Massachusetts companies and is projected to create over 1,000 projected new jobs and train 7,000 workers.
“An important part of our job is to make sure more of our businesses of any size are able to access this great resource,” Secretary of Labor and Workforce Development Rosalin Acosta said in a statement. “Over the past two years we have increased the number of small businesses served significantly and now over 84 percent of the businesses served by the Workforce Training Fund are small businesses.”
The Workforce Training Fund, which is run by the state’s Executive Office of Labor and Workforce Development and administered by Commonwealth Corp., a quasi-public state agency, provides grants of up to $250,000 that are matched dollar-for-dollar by the award recipients.
Since the beginning of the Baker-Polito Administration, the Workforce Training Fund has awarded more than 400 grants totaling over $43 million to train more than 31,000 workers from over 600 different Massachusetts businesses, which is expected to result in over 3,700 new jobs.
Here is a break down of the grants the selected banks and credit unions received:
- The Village Bank – $145,600 to train 84 workers; two additional jobs are expected to be added by 2019.
- Charles River Bank – $55,780 to train 48 workers; two additional jobs are expected to be added by 2019.
- South Shore Bank – $249,820 to train 181 workers; 18 additional jobs are expected to be added by 2019.
- IC Federal Credit Union – $63,510 to train 61 workers; five additional jobs are expected to be added by 2019.
- GFA Federal Credit Union – $31,035 to train 35 workers; 10 additional jobs are expected to be added by 2019.
- Luso Federal Credit Union – $21,700 to train 32 workers; four additional jobs are expected to be added by 2019.
- Millbury Credit Union – $73,790 to train 71 workers; three additional jobs are expected to be added by 2019.
