In 2013, Governor Walker signed into law the Wisconsin Fast Forward program. Wisconsin Fast Forward is designed to address the need for skilled workers. The program created worker training grants and makes other investments to prepare workers for jobs.
Former Hazelhurst resident Dave Anderson is the Assistant Deputy Secretary in the Department of Workforce Development. He says in the past two years the program has grown quickly. He says the program has succeeded enough that it will likely be funded for the next two-year budget....
"....Gov. Walker proposed as part of the biennial budget continued funding of the Fast Forward program. We're particularly pleased the Joint Finance Committee has included that funding in it's recommendation to the legislature....it looks like Fast Forward is going to be funded for another biennium...."
Anderson says the grants are designed to help those segments of the economy that need workers quickly. He says if businesses, educators or economic development groups want to apply for grant funding for the program, they should go to the website Fast Forward dot com.
Wisconsin also was the first state in the nation to begin a worker apprenticeship program, a program that later was used as a model for expanding it nationwide.
Anderson says the state held an apprenticeship summit in January to see how the program could be improved. He says an action plan evolved from the summit...
"....that will hopefully result in the expansion of our program. We identified the need to particularly develop our youth apprenticeship programs so we can get more people onto a career path and make it easier for them to transition from youth apprenticeship to regular apprenticeship...."
Anderson says they would like to see apprenticeship used more in the advanced manufacturing area, along with health care and I.T. He says to contact the Department of Workforce Development to learn more about the state's apprenticeship program, or contact a local consortium at a local technical college or high school for more information.
