The City of Milwaukee has invested $207,000 in the Mayor’s Manufacturing Partnership, an initiative Mayor Tom Barrett announced in February that invests in manufacturing job creation.
The Milwaukee Area Workforce Investment Board (MAWIB) initially contributed $500,000 to the program. MAWIB has partnered with the city, the Wisconsin Regional Training Partnership and Milwaukee Area Technical College to find and train workers for manufacturing jobs.
“For some time now, we’ve been talking to the mayor and our partners about what can we do to be more proactive to help manufacturers identify and train more workers,” said Linda Stewart, chief operating officer of MAWIB.
The city’s contribution was announced Friday at a Manufacturing Day event at C&D Milwaukee Manufacturing. Manufacturing Day is a regional program in which area companies opened their doors to introduce students to manufacturing career pathways.
Mayor Barrett also gave an update on the progress of the partnership.
Since April, 61 people have completed customized training, of whom 38 have been hired and the others are doing additional training or work, Stewart said. WRTP has helped place 81 individuals who did not need additional training in manufacturing jobs, while the partnership has subsidized training for 17 new hires who are training on the job.
The city’s investment will help fund an additional 36 job and training opportunities, Stewart said. The partnership is also working to let manufacturers know about the training, funding and placement services it has available.
“If they work with us, we can make sure they get their needs met,” she said. “It’s particularly helpful to small businesses who don’t have a training department or an HR department.”
The Mayor’s Manufacturing Partnership addresses both short-term employment needs, with immediate job placement for skilled workers, and long-term needs, with external and internal training in skills employers are looking for, Stewart said.
“When we coordinate together, we’re able to be more responsive,” she said. “We’re all in the same business and we’re all bringing our resources together.”
