Partnering with governmental funders—sharing insights

Addressing skill mismatches and helping people to gain skills are critical issues in our local workforce. And we’re seeing unprecedented investments into the workforce by local, state, and federal government. WorkWell MN has emerged as a valuable, singular point of contact—elevating community-based organization knowledge and the voices of those they serve—as the region aims to secure federal workforce resources.

Recent engagements with government funders include:

• WorkWell MN was invited as a regional partner to inform the workforce plan for Creating Helpful Incentives to Produce Semiconductors (CHIPS) for American Notice of Funding Availability (NOFA).

• A regional planning group was assembled, and Work Well MN’s voice was included in the pursuit of the Tech Hubs NOFA for expanding the biomedical industry in the region.

• As the University of Minnesota pursued funding from The National Science Foundation to expand the sustainable plastics industry in Minnesota, WorkWell MN was invited to convey workforce nonprofit readiness to ramp up job training for entry-level and gateway level jobs in this sector.