July 8, 2015
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Retail Trade
$1,164,730
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$399,232
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$349,092
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$140,338
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$43,576
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Business retention and expansion is the part of our economic strategy focused on keeping our existing local businesses strong. A business' ability to effectively train new employees, or retrain existing employees to remain competitive, is one of the largest factors for successful retention and expansion efforts.

In this edition, we profile a valuable resource to offset the cost of training employees: the Wyoming Workforce Development Training Fund."

I encourage you to to others in the community who might find it useful and join the mailing list for future issues.

Welcome home, Sheridan!
- Mayor John Heath
Introduction
The Wyoming Department of Workforce Services provides several grant programs to help employers offset the cost of providing training for their workers. These grants are collectively managed under the Workforce Development Training Fund (WDTF) program.

This newsletter will focus primarily on the business training grants available to assist with training for individual employees, including:
  • Grants for existing positions
  • Grants for new positions
Grants for Existing Positions
WDTF grants for existing positions provide up to $2,000 per trainee per fiscal year to help offset the cost to upgrade or re-train the skills of existing employees.

Existing position grants by the numbers:

  • 60% - percentage of training costs funded through grant (requires 40% business match)
  • $300 - minimum grant amount (meaning minimum total training cost of $500 with business match)
  • $1,000-$2,000 - maximum grant funding per trainee per fiscal year 
    • $1,000 for part-time employees
    • $2,000 for full-time employees
  • No Limit on the number of trainings within the annual maximum. For example, a business may apply for a single training session with $2,000 worth of eligible expenses, or multiple training sessions of lesser amounts.
Grants for New Positions
WDTF grants for new positions provide up to $4,000 per trainee per fiscal year to help offset the cost for training new employees.

New position grants by the numbers:

  • 100% - percentage of training costs funded through grant (no business match required)
  • $300 - minimum grant amount
  • $1,000-$4,000 - maximum grant funding per trainee per fiscal year 
    • $1,000 for part-time (less than 35 hours/week) employees
    • $2,000 for full-time employees
    • $4,000 for employees whose wages are equal to or greater than the mean county hourly wage ($22.611)
  • No Limit on the number of trainings within the annual maximum. For example, a business may apply for a single training session with $2,000 worth of eligible expenses, or multiple training sessions of lesser amounts.
  • 180 Days - how long a position (employee) is eligible for new position grants from the date of hire
Note: The employee's position must represent a net increase in positions for the company in order to be eligible for "new" position grants. If an employee is hired as a replacement for a position, the training will only be eligible for existing position grants.

1-U.S. Department of Labor, May 2014 Occupational Employment and Wage Estimate - Northeastern Wyoming non-metropolitan area.
Eligible Expenses
Business training grants for both new and existing positions cover a significant portion of the expenses related to providing training, including:
  • Direct training costs (e.g. tuition, registration, class fees/materials, etc.)
  • Travel expenses (e.g. airfare, mileage, lodging, meals, etc.)
  • Instructor's fees AND travel expenses in cases when the instructor is brought in for training by the business
  • Trainee's wages (eligible for new position grants only; trainee wages not eligible expenses for existing position grants)
  • Fees for continuing education units and certifications obtained during training
Applying For A Grant
Allow plenty of time to submit the application.
The most important factor in submitting a successful training grant application is timeliness. Applications must be submitted at least 30 days prior to the start of training (or the start of travelling, if the training is elsewhere).

If you are not sure about the deadline for submitting an application, WDTF provides an online application due date calculator to help determine by when an application must be submitted.

Provide thorough supporting documentation.
Thoroughness of information is another important element of a successful application. Due to the large volume of applications submitted, WDTF staff are not always able to process applications as soon as they are received. If an application is submitted in time but is found to have insufficient information after the 30-day deadline has passed, it may be deemed incomplete and rejected for having passed the deadline.

In addition to the online application submitted through the WDTF portal, a business will also need to submit supporting documentation via fax to provide additional explanation of costs in the application. Examples of supporting documentation include:
  • Training cost quotes
  • Screenshots of lodging estimates from hotel websites
  • Map directions showing estimated mileage
Supporting documentation must be provided within 24 hours of submitting the online application. It is recommended that this documentation be developed while completing the application, so that it may be submitted immediately following the application.

WDTF provides an application document checklist to help explain the required information, and a  sample application  containing examples of supporting documentation and an attachment checklist.
Get Started Today
  1. Register your business with WDTF. This is a one-time step that must only be completed prior to submitting your first application.
  2. Log in to the online application portal.
  3. Start a new application!
Want To Know More?
WDTF has even more information and resources available on their website:
If you have any other questions, please contact WDTF.