Northern Kentucky University’s Office of Community Connections has been awarded a $75,000 grant from the Bluegrass State Skills Corporation (BSSC) to improve and promote workforce development efforts for Kentucky residents in the areas of manufacturing, healthcare, and service.
The grant will allow NKU to partner with the Northern Kentucky Training Consortium to provide training and professional development opportunities to companies and employees in these industries to improve job retention and career advancement.
“In today’s business climate, companies have unique challenges meeting the needs of employees and their bottom line. Workers across the board are expected to do more with less. Competencies in technical abilities, soft skills, and other work-place essentials are crucial to building a qualified, skilled, competitive workforce. Through this grant, NKU will provide professional development that will help fill these training gaps,” said Amanda Peters, associate director of NKU Community Connections.
This fall, NKU combined its Continuing Education and Community Connections programs in order to strategically align non-credit employee training programs and community education offerings within a single unit to provide increased opportunities for professional development and lifelong learning across the community.
“NKU is working hard to cost-effectively serve the Greater Cincinnati and Northern Kentucky region with resources to help individuals be successful in every stage of life,” said NKU Community Connections Director Melinda Spong. “This grant for training and development education will have a significant impact on how we serve individuals who are working or seeking employment in our community.”
To see if you or your company qualifies for grant-funded training or to learn more about the Northern Kentucky Training Consortium, please email Christine Smith at smithc82@nku.edu.
Community Connections is currently enrolling for Spring 2016 non-credit courses and workshops in the areas of leadership, management, social media marketing, Six Sigma, library science and more.
To view the course catalog and learn more, please visit communityconnections.nku.edu.
