Skills for Small Business
Through the Texas Workforce Commission (TWC) Skills for Small Business program, up to $2 million from the Skills Development Fund is dedicated to the backbone of Texas’s business community – our more than 433,000 small employers. Small businesses can now apply to TWC for training offered by their local community or technical college, or the Texas Engineering Extension Service (TEEX). TWC processes the applications and works with the college to fund the specific courses selected by businesses for their employees.
This exceptional opportunity supports businesses with fewer than 100 employees.
Skills for Small Business program emphasizes training newly hired employees, those who have been hired by the business up to twelve months prior to the date that TWC receives an application, though it also may help upgrade the skills of incumbent workers.
- The program pays up to $1,800 for each new employee being trained and $900 for existing employees per 12-month period.
- Funding for training is for full-time employees.
- All training must be provided by a public community or technical college, or the Texas A&M Engineering Extension Service (TEEX). No third-party vendor training is allowed.
- Training must be selected from active course catalogs/schedules— credit, continuing education, online or other available unpublished courses.
- Employers must pay the prevailing wages in the local labor market for the trainees funded under the grant.
Skills for Small Business Video
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Skills Development Fund
The Skills Development Fund is Texas’ premier job-training program providing training opportunities for Texas businesses and workers. Funding for the program is administered by the Texas Workforce Commission. Success is achieved through collaboration among businesses, public community and technical colleges, Workforce Development Boards and economic development partners.
The Skills Development Fund program assists businesses and trade unions by financing the design and implementation of customized job-training projects. This fund successfully merges business needs and local customized training opportunities into a winning formula to increase the skills levels and wages of the Texas workforce.
As a Texas employer, you are the focus of the Skills Development Fund. You provide two things — a desire to collaborate with the other partners involved with the project and the commitment to see the project through to completion.
To be considered for a Skills Development Fund grant, the private business, business consortium or trade union must:
- Partner with an eligible grant applicant, which is a public community or technical college, the Texas Engineering Extension Service, or a private, nonprofit community-based organization in partnership with one of those institutions.
- Be actively involved in the planning and design of the customized training project.
- Pay wages to the employees who successfully complete the training program that are equal to or greater than the prevailing wage for the occupation in the local labor market.
- Disclose any other state or federal grant funds sought or awarded for the proposed training project.
- Sign an agreement with the grant applicant outlining each entity’s roles and responsibilities in the training project, including reporting requirements related to trainee participation.
- Provide equal employment opportunity documentation as well as information on the occupations for training, employment benefits, wages and social security numbers for trainees.
- Use WorkinTexas.com to post openings for new workers trained under the project.
Skills Development Fund Video
Additional Skills Development Fund Information
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Sarah Barnes
Phillip Flores
