Dec. 14, 2021 6:45p
(WGTD)---In Kenosha Tuesday to unveil workforce development grants, Gov. Evers said a new national immigration policy would help alleviate worker shortages.
Evers appeared at Gateway Technical College’s Horizon Center to announce three workforce development grants: Up to $5.6 million to expand high school equivalency training in Racine, Kenosha and Walworth counties and nearly $1 million to enable a national entrepreneurship program to expand to Kenosha. UW-Parkside will also benefit by being part of a $5 million program to deliver workforce-ready curriculum to teach employable skills to prison inmates.
The grants were part of a series of awards Evers made Tuesday during stops around the state.
In Kenosha, Evers brought up the topic of immigration, saying a business owner half-jokingly told him the other day she’d like to charter a couple of buses and bring Hispanic workers to Wisconsin from the Mexican border. "That tells me our immigration policy has to be fixed," he said.
Also, Evers threw cold water on the notion that social programs—like the recently-ended, enhanced unemployment benefits program—create a significant disincentive that keeps workers at home. "That's over. First of all, I didn't believe it. There's no data to support it. That's over and we're still having problems," said Evers, adding that there are no easy solutions.
The expansion of high school equivalency training means that an extra 1,300 adults over the next three years in the Gateway Technical College District will be able to benefit from the 15-week program. In addition, the program will be extended from Racine—where it began four years ago—to both Kenosha and Walworth counties. So far the training has produced 500 graduates, according to Gateway Pre-College Programs Dean Cyndean Jennings. She said thousands of tri-county residents could benefit from the program, as data shows some 35,000 residents in the three-county area lack high school credentials.
The nearly $1 million grant to cover the cost of entrepreneurial training in Kenosha involves a national company by the name of Gener8tor. Kenosha Mayor Antaramian says the program won’t duplicate existing initiatives, and will be located in the Brown Bank building. The building was recently acquired by the city for use as a workforce development center.
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