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Governor Fletcher Presents Additional $500,000 to KentuckianaWorks Funds to help train much-needed workforce in construction, skilled trades

Governor Ernie Fletcher has awarded $500,000 in Workforce Investment Act funds to a program that trains youth, adults and dislocated workers for jobs as construction and skilled-trade workers, who are much in demand in the Louisville area.

The funds were presented at the Louisville Urban League to KentuckianaWorks, Greater Louisville’s Workforce Investment Board. 

The money helps fund a partnership involving KentuckianaWorks, the Louisville Urban League, the Kentuckiana Plan and the Justice Resource Center to recruit and train people for construction-related careers. It is the Fletcher administration’s second award for the program. Governor Fletcher also presented a $500,000 check in May to help lay the groundwork.

More than $3 billion of construction projects are scheduled for completion in the greater Louisville area in the next three years. They include the Louisville Arena, Museum Plaza , Iron Quarter, the UPS expansion, River Park Place , the Cordish Company’s downtown development, and the Base Realignment and Closure at Fort Knox .  The $1 million workforce initiative will help build a much-needed corps of qualified workers.

“We want to be sure that individuals in this region are ready to participate in the more than $3 billion construction industry in Greater Louisville these next few years. These construction projects, and those who are involved in them, will propel Louisville – and in fact the whole commonwealth – forward in economic development and opportunity,” said Governor Fletcher.

The second phase of the initiative will provide recruitment and outreach; intake, assessment and introduction to construction trades; remedial education; training in basic construction skills, and case management and follow-up.

“We are grateful to Governor Fletcher for these additional statewide reserve dollars that will help us provide additional services, including educational programs for those who need to raise their math and English skills to take advantage of these new opportunities,” said Michael Gritton, executive director of KentuckianaWorks. “This additional funding will make an even greater impact on Louisville ’s growth and development by getting more people into the construction pipeline and on their way to good-paying construction and skilled trades jobs.”

“Great things are happening in Louisville , and this training program will allow all of our residents to benefit from the development that’s taking place in every corner of this community,” Mayor Jerry Abramson said.

The latest funding is from the U.S. Department of Labor and is administered by the Kentucky Department for Workforce Investment’s Office of Employment and Training in the Kentucky Education Cabinet.

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