from: http://www.azcentral.com/arizonarepublic/business/articles/0415jobtraining15.html

Money for a training day
State grants help cover businesses' expenses

Dawn Gilbertson
The Arizona Republic
Apr. 15, 2003 12:00 AM

When Gold Circuit Inc. was opening a warehouse in Chandler and a computer recycling facility in Casa Grande, it turned to the state for help.

And the state responded.

The small Tempe company received matching funds to help train forklift operators in Chandler and machine operators in Casa Grande.

Altogether, it received about $9,300 in Arizona Job Training Program grants, project manager Harry Strachan said.

"How can you lose?" he said.

More and more companies are asking the same question as word spreads about the job-training funds available through the Arizona Department of Commerce.

The program has been around for 10 years but it was only in the past two that companies retraining workers, rather than just training new employees, became eligible.

"It's something businesses constantly have to invest in. It's a huge cost for them," said Steve Partridge, assistant deputy director of workforce development for the Commerce Department. "If we want to make sure Arizona is a competitive place to do business,we have to invest in that as well."

Partridge said the big demand recently has come from companies that have laid off workers.

"Even as companies downsize, they're getting their current employees to do more and more," he said.

Companies are saying, "We need to retrain our people to do other people's jobs."

The program, which is funded by an employer-paid tax and has an annual budget of about $12 million, is open to small and large businesses.

A certain amount is dedicated to small and rural businesses each year.

Businesses creating jobs have to pay at least 25 percent of the costs, others at least 50 percent.

Companies are reimbursed after the training is done, but the application has to be approved before it begins.

Applications are taken on a first-come, first-served basis.

Partridge said just $600,000 to $700,000 remains for this fiscal year, which ends June 30.

The largest grant allowable by law is 10 percent of the budget, or $1.25 million this year.

Grants this year have ranged from $3,500 for Verde Valley Ambulance to $1.1 million to Phoenix-based Apollo Group, parent of the University of Phoenix and Western International University.

Strachan says no amount is too small to pass up.

Gold Circuit was reimbursed only about $300 for the Chandler training (the other $9,000 was for the Casa Grande training) because it was for a handful of employees and was relatively short.

"It was an obvious thing to do," he said.