Delta College grant to provide free training for businesses

Any businesses in Midland County seeking specific job training for employees, but don't know who to contact? Delta College may be the answer.
 
Delta College is offering several training initiatives for businesses in the Great Lakes Bay Region. They're calling themselves a preferred training partner for businesses looking for financial support to train employees.

Mid-Michigan Development Corporation Regional Talent Innovation Program (RTI) will provide businesses in Midland, Arenac, Bay, Clare, Gladwin, Gratiot, Isabella or Saginaw counties the ability to train production workers, at no cost, by using Delta College as a training provider. Individuals must work at a business located in one of those counties or have been impacted by COVID-19.  Jennifer Carroll, Director of Corporate Services at Delta says interested businesses in those counties should reach out with any questions pertaining to eligibility.


More than $550,000 in grant funds are available only on a first-come first-serve basis,” says Carroll. Short-term training can be provided to individual employees for up to 40 hours or a total of two certificates of training. Training must be completed before the end of April. Training grant funds will cover 100 percent of the cost for the businesses who apply. 

But businesses in Midland County and other counties listed above need to act fast.
The program is “time sensitive, and those businesses need to contact us soon, if they’d like more information and/or want their employees to participate,” says Carroll. “So if any Midland County businesses are interested, they need to reach out and we will walk them through their eligibility and to see if [the program] is a good fit. It’s an easy process,” she adds.

The program is ideal for “upskilling”  or training entry-level workers. Carroll says a training class must have a minimum of four employees to be held. The program is ideal for those employers looking to train employees that need to enhance their skill set, specifically jobs in manufacturing.

“It doesn’t matter the size of the business. If you’re an employer who may have hired people to fill roles in order to get their products out the door and now those employees have some training deficits and are looking to upskill some of the talent; please reach out,” Carroll says.

So far, Carroll says no Midland county businesses have reached out to participate in the training.
 
Popular RTI Delta College training courses include:
Blueprint Reading-8 hours                                                    
CNC Programming-24 hours                                                
Electrical Overview & Schematics-8 hours                                                    
Geometric Dimensioning and Tolerancing-16 hours                                                    
Hand and Power Tools Safety-8 hours 

High Performing Leadership- virtual– 40 hours * Note only offered March 2023       
Hydraulics & Pneumatics-24 hours                                                    
LEAN-16 hours                                                    
Microsoft Excel Level 1–8 hours
OSHA-30 ­hours

PLC-32 hours                                                                              
Problem Solving–8 to 40 hours                                                       
Project Management-16 hours                                             

Robotics Programming & Operation-32 to 40 hours                  
Shop Math-8 hours
Supervisory Skills-8 to 24 hours

Businesses who are expanding in the next 12-18 months can also take advantage of Michigan's new jobs training program, which provides free training to new eligible employees.
 
Go to delta.edu/traininggrants for the employer interest form to register interest in the training and classes to have your employees attend. Delta will then contact the employer to create a training class plan and provide details on the process. For questions about the RTI program, email training@delta.edu.