Larimer County Workforce Innovation Grant (WIG) Awards
Larimer County Economic and Workforce Development and the Larimer Board of County Commissioners received federal funding to support workforce innovation, through the Workforce Innovation Grant. The Goal of the Workforce Innovation Grant is to help solve pressing workforce challenges by financially supporting innovative pandemic-recovery plans that will;
- Help build in-demand skills; or
- Connect workers and learners to quality jobs; or
- Drive employer engagement in employee development
LCEWD received 26 proposals, vetted for eligibility, for a total amount requested of $3,182,985. After an extensive review by subject matter experts, we are pleased to announce that LCEWD awarded 1.6 million in grants to organizations to impact solutions to the region’s biggest workforce challenges, focusing on employment, training and skills development.
We thank all the awardees for their participation in the grant. Below are some of the highlights from the funding.
Awardees
Overview/Goals
Help youth, ages 16-18 whose families were negatively impacted by the pandemic, to learn the skills they need to start their careers.
Goal Number of People to be Served: 22
Program Stories
- Overall, the most successful story is that we were able to utilize this grant funding to jump-start of Jr. Staff program again after COVID, bringing more teenagers into Clubs to get a first time job opportunity and setting them up for success. One of our Youth Workforce Leaders, Wesley, also became our Boys & Girls Clubs of Larimer County Youth of the Year and will be competing against other BGC youth across the state in April 2024 for Colorado Youth of the Year.
- I am truly thrilled that this grant did exactly what I hoped it would do when I applied for it years ago. Our Workforce Leader Program (formally Jr. Staff) had ceased to exist after 2020 and we could see that it was a valuable program. This funding help reinvigorate and restart the program that will now continue on past the funding. Not only that, we were given the time to create stronger onboarding & training procedures for our Youth Workforce Leaders, ensuring they were getting an even better experience that before. Additionally, we are seeking funding to continue paying our interns, as we've seen the value in offering paid, rather than unpaid, internships.
Overview/Goals
The mission of Careers in Construction Colorado (CICC) is to partner with entities that provide educational courses focused on the construction industry to promote the benefits of career opportunities to students, parents, influencers, and educators as well as develop effective job placement platforms to place students in the construction industry.
Goal Number of People to be Served: 150
Program Stories
- Ethan H completed a 3-month internship with Independent Plumbing Solutions (IPS) after being introduced to the company through Thompson Career Campus (TCC) mock interviews and a Career Fair. His role at IPS included warehouse tasks and fieldwork, such as soldering pipes for an irrigation system and assisting in plumbing jobs, where he developed valuable hands-on skills. Ethan attributes his interview readiness to TCC's career preparation and credits IPS staff for their mentorship, especially Lexi and Dave, who guided him throughout the internship. Through this experience, he learned key lessons about teamwork, accountability, and the importance of asking questions, which he plans to apply in his future endeavors, including those supported by the Workforce Innovation Grant.
Overview/Goals
Connect learners with quality jobs through direct interaction with professionals by providing an increase in internship opportunities and a diversity of experiences to explore career paths within the City of Fort Collins.
Goal Number of People to be Served: 84
Program Stories
- Liz with Volunteer Services, participated in a role shadow at The Gardens on Spring Creek during the annual Pumpkins on Parade event. After completing the shadow, she asked if she could take on a bigger role during the upcoming Garden of Lights event. During Garden of Lights, she took the lead on the role she had shadowed during the prior event and did amazing. Elizabeth is currently finishing up her internship at the beginning of 2024 Q1 and is being kept on as a permanent staff member with The City.
- The completion of the grant and its success in connecting at least 118 total students to paid work-based learning opportunities, proves the need for a permanent K12 WBL Business Liaison in our region. Because of this proven proof of concept role, funding now supports the position of K12 WBL Business Manager for continued work through the Fort Collins Area Chamber.
Overview/Goals
The COVID-19 pandemic disproportionately impacted employment opportunities for individuals with intellectual and developmental disabilities (IDD). The CSU Inclusive Training Program is based on recommendations from the Colorado Workforce Development Council’s 2021 Talent Pipeline Report to increase access to competency-based non-degree credentials and to help employers adopt skills-based hiring. We will use a peer-mentoring and experiential learning approach to enhance career pathways for individuals with IDD in two relevant sectors in Larimer County: agriculture and STEM.
Number of People to be Served: 16 participants with IDD and 16 peer mentors
Program Stories
- Our students are completely engaged in their integrated classes. The Agriculture Education 110 class is held on CSU's research farm and purposely experiential and hands on. Not only are they getting first-hand experience with practical farm and ranch activities (e.g., building and maintaining a small greenhouse, sorting and branding cattle, driving a tractor and skid steer, etc.), but they are usually the first to volunteer for each new activity. Their enthusiasm and enjoyment are tangible!
Overview Goals
Connect students of color with programs offered at the Digital Workshop Center. We will support and facilitate 3 students attending the Frontend Web Development Program and 2 students in the Graphic Design Certificate Program.
Number of People to be Served: 5
Program Stories
- The Cultural Enrichment Center of Fort Collins is writing to inform you about the successful journey of Darren Hayden, a participant in the Workforce Innovation Grant program. Darren was given an incredible opportunity to attend a certification program with the Digital Workshop Center, focusing on Front End Web Design and Graphic Design. I am pleased to report that Darren has completed the certification program. This achievement has paved the way for his further education. Darren is now enrolled at the Metropolitan State University of Denver, majoring in graphic design. This academic pursuit was made possible through the support and opportunities provided by the Workforce Innovation Grant. The impact of the Workforce Innovation Grant on Darren's career path is a testament to the program's effectiveness in fostering professional growth and development. We are proud of Darren's accomplishments and look forward to seeing his future contributions to the field of graphic design.
Overview Goals
Create a context in Larimer County in which Latinx/immigrant households experience intergenerational support to hone and contribute skills within our local workforce. For immigrant youth, create a summer fellowship program to provide training and professional development opportunities within local organizations and businesses. For the parent generation, provide small grants for skills building, credentialing/licensing, small business startup funds, and legal funds for work authorization application and renewal.
Goal Number of People to be Served: 150
Program Stories
- We are so delighted to report that three of our high school Adelante Youth Fellows have been accepted to CSU with financial assistance! All three of these fellows have overcome significant barriers to higher education, including struggles with immigration legal status, learning disabilities, and some traumatic life experiences. We are overwhelmed with the confidence with which these youth have moved forward since their fellowship experiences. They are all first generation college students and will be participating in CSU's Bridge Program. At the start of the fellowship program, all three spoke about the barriers to learning and professional development experiences and wondered if they would ever attend a four year university. Through their fellowship, they gained professional experience, they learned to participate in staff meetings, they learned how to run different operations within their host sites, they learned to show up on time and converse with adults and share their bicultural and bilingual insights with host staff. One of them stayed on as a youth advisor to their host site. All three have also volunteered as youth leaders at all our ISAAC community events since their fellowship. They also received awesome coaching from older CSU students (also in the Adelante program) on their college applications, essays and scholarship applications, showing the value in having a mixed-age cohort of fellows. All three are also graduating from PSD with a certificate in "bi-literacy." We are so proud of Jocelyn, Vladimir and Eddy, and we wish them all the best at CSU. Go Rams! Another of our older fellows, Ivan Mendoza Hinojos, graduated from CSU as a first generation college student.
Overview/Goals
Keep Smart Books Academy will become a licensed Division of Private Occupational Schools in the state of Colorado with the objective of offering a certificate-based program to train individuals in critical bookkeeping and payroll skills to they can either begin a successful career in the financial field or enhance their current career with continuing education.
Goal Number of People to be Served: 40
Program Stories
- Student Success Story from a students who completed Course 210 via the WIG grant. " I get paid $34/hour but am moving to a salaried position March 1st for $60k/year for approx 30 hours/week! I’ll get more PTO, medical insurance and holidays too. At the moment I’m averaging about 28 hours a week. Goes to show your program works! I certainly wouldn’t have this job or be killing it, without your classes!!!”
- The agenda for the final class was to have the students present a summary of their mock business they had been accounting for throughout the course. Each student had used critical thinking skills and had thoughtful comments about the financials and what they had learned. Several of the students commented that the course had given them the boost in confidence they needed to apply for a position in bookkeeping and/or payroll. Others said the course had increased their self-worth and they are happy to know they can help contribute to their family's finances.
Overview/Goals
Supported by the Fort Collins Area Chamber of Commerce and in collaboration with Poudre, Thompson, Estes Park School Districts and Colorado Early Colleges Fort Collins, the K-12 Work-Based Learning Business Liaison will work to increase business partnerships and work-based learning (WBL) opportunities for students across our region.
Goal Number of People to be Served: 50 students
Program Stories
- The completion of the grant and its success in connecting at least 118 total students to paid work-based learning opportunities, proves the need for a permanent K12 WBL Business Liaison in our region. Because of this proven proof of concept role, funding now supports the position of K12 WBL Business Manager for continued work through the Fort Collins Area Chamber.
Overview/Goals
Improve the outcomes for older workers 55+ who have been impacted by COVID-19 either through loss of income or job loss by becoming employed and shortening their length of unemployment and preparing them to compete in today’s workplace. Participants will complete a series of job search/job coaching, and overall supportive activities that will help the older worker 55+ position themselves to compete in today’s workplace.
Goal Number of People to be Served: 90
Program Stories
- One of the participants successfully gained new employment last week in her dream job! She put a lot of effort into growing her network and pushing herself out of her comfort zone to form new connections, and her hard work really paid off!
- One of our program participants went on to begin a very meaningful position with UCHealth. After getting settled into her new role, she was eager to continue interacting with our organization. She has now taken on a volunteer role within PAFC (in addition to her work with UCHealth) as our PAFC Blog Editor! It's amazing to see how her participation in our program has truly come full circle, to the point where she is now settled in a job she loves and wishes to volunteer her time with us.
Overview/Goals
Strengthen the talent ecosystem in Northern Colorado by providing single parents the case management and resources needed to place them on the pathway to educational attainment and quality jobs.
Goal Number of People to be Served: 170
Program Stories
- A Participant completed an AS Chemistry degree at FRCC and is currently at CSU to earn a BS Chemical Engineering degree; she is currently working as a CSU Research Lab Assistant as she earns her degree.
Overview/Goals
Unified Workforce assists members of the underrepresented communities find employment with educational opportunities like mentoring, training
through work-based learning opportunities and support in coaching.
Goal Number of People to be Served: 40
Program Stories
- After graduating, I was struggling with finding jobs and faced lots of interview preparation. Lots of resumes sent out without reply that made me sometimes hectic with doubt, fear, and insecure feelings. I was lucky to meet Karen. We are in different states. She is in Colorado, and I am in California. She spent time actively calling, texting, and zooming me to help with my resume and cover letter. Finding a job sometimes can be a long process, but during that time I always feel supported and encouraged by her. Every time I got an interview, Karen did mock interviews with me and let me know each interview question that the HR wanted to know. Karen walks me through the recruitment process, ensuring every step is understood, prepared, and all is in for you. Karen also found a tutor who help me with my accent (language barrier), because she doesn’t want to He doesn't want to be discriminated against and treated unfairly because of my accent. Karen would always stay available when I need help and make sure everything goes smoothly. She always stays open minded with a supportive attitude. Finally, with her support, I got job. THANKS, Karen! "
Background of WIG
On June 23, 2021, Colorado House Bill 21-1264 was signed into law by Governor Jared Polis. The bill appropriated federal funds from the American Rescue Plan to support talent development. This includes funding to invest in programs and grants that support training for the unemployed and underemployed during times of substantial unemployment.
Colorado’s unemployment rate remains higher than pre-COVID levels, and the impacts of low-quality jobs and demands for skilled workers create stress within the labor market. The 2020 Colorado Talent Pipeline Report highlights impacts of the pandemic, top jobs and in-demand credentials, and discusses the plan for recovery in 2021.
Resources/References
Contact Information
For questions regarding the Workforce Innovation Grant please email lcewd-grant@larimer.org.
Additional Workforce Initiatives and Services
The Workforce Innovation Grant is just one of the ways Larimer County is working to impact some of the most important challenges in our region.
Larimer County Workforce Innovation Grant
We are here to help. Please contact us with any questions.
Email: lcewd-grant@larimer.org
