For Minnesota employers: enhance employee skills with grant-funded training opportunities

By
CareerForce
screenshot of a Teams meeting showing 13 people in a gallery

In today's competitive landscape, investing in your people isn't just a benefit, it's a strategic necessity. Your existing employees are a goldmine of potential, and upskilling them leads to increased efficiency, productivity, and retention.

We're excited to share key programs offered through the Department of Employment and Economic Development (DEED) and our Leading CareerForce partners, like Central Minnesota Jobs and Training Services (CMJTS) and Career Solutions. These grant-funded and resource-backed opportunities are designed to help you enhance your team's skills, onboard new talent, and drive business success.

The October 2025 Workforce Wednesday session hosted by the DEED Workforce Strategy Consultants focused on enhancing employee skills with grant-funded training opportunities. The October session featured the following panelists: 

You can watch a recording of the October 2025 Workforce Wednesday session by selecting this link. Or read on for a summary of all the great training resources that were discussed on October 1!  

Unlock Your Workforce Potential: Targeted Training Opportunities for Your Business

We love our acronyms, so let's dive into the core programs available to employers. Angie and Tim offered a rundown of the options:

1. Incumbent Worker Training (IWT) offered through your Local Workforce Development Board

IWT is all about upskilling your current, long-term employees.

  • What it is: Financial assistance to train your existing workforce. This can be used to avert potential layoffs by cross-training employees for new departments or to provide skills necessary for internal promotion, creating backfill opportunities for less-skilled positions.
  • Purpose: Improve the skills of your workforce, enhance your company's business processes, and boost competitiveness.
  • Eligibility Highlights:
    • Business must be in continuous operation for at least 12 months.
    • Trainees must be with the employer for at least six months (or 51% of a cohort).
    • Training must be skills-based, job-related, and result in a certificate.
  • Examples of Supported Training: Leadership and management training (a popular choice for internal promotions), HR certification, Lean training, new equipment training, and computer skills.
  • Funding: This is a reimbursement program. Businesses are required to provide matching funds, but in-kind contributions (such as trainees' wages and benefits during training) often cover most, if not all, of the required match.
  • Who to contact: Staff at your local workforce development board.

2. On-the-Job Training (OJT) offered through your Local Workforce Development Board

OJT is your cost-effective tool for onboarding and developing new hires.

  • What it is: A proven method for new employee development. It's a mutually shared agreement (often called a contract) where we document the specific, hands-on training you will provide to a new hire.
  • Purpose: Bridges the gap between a new employee’s existing skills and your job requirements. The new employee earns while they learn the skills unique to your organization.
  • Key Benefit: You can be reimbursed for up to 50% of the new employee's wages during the reimbursement period, which is typically three to six months. This helps offset the investment of time and resources required to train a new team member.
  • Eligibility Highlights:
    • The new hire must meet specific income or employment status criteria (e.g., laid off, unemployed, or underemployed).
    • The agreement must be negotiated and signed before the new employee starts the job.
    • The job must be full-time (at least 30 hours per week) and cannot be seasonal or temporary.
  • Who to contact: Staff at your local workforce development board.

3. Minnesota Job Skills Partnership (MJSP) Training Opportunities through MN DEED

MJSP offers larger-scale funding opportunities for strategic growth and upskilling.

a. MJSP Partnership Grant

  • What it is: A grant of up to $500,000 (recently increased from $400,000) to upskill and train your workers. The application is written in partnership with a local educational institution (like a technical college).
  • Training Focus: It funds customized training specifically needed at your business, which can include leadership development, safety training, or specialized technical skills. The program is intended for customized training and cannot be used for enrollment in existing training programs.
  • Key Advantage: The educational institution takes the lead in writing the grant application with you, lightening your administrative load. Applications are considered three times a year and even offers a "short form" for smaller projects up to $50,000.
  • Who to contact: View regional contact information here.

b. Automation Training Incentive Program (ATIP)

Got new equipment coming in? ATIP helps you ensure your team is ready.

  • What it is: Funding of up to $35,000 to train employees on new automated equipment being brought into your facility.
  • Eligibility: Must be located in Greater Minnesota and have under 150 full-time employees at your location.
  • Availability: This program is always open for applications.
  • Who to contact: View regional contact information here.
  •  

c. Job Training Incentive Program (JTIP)

JTIP is an incentive for businesses that are expanding and hiring.

  • What it is: A grant of up to $200,000 to train workers in newly created jobs as quickly and efficiently as possible.
  • Eligibility: Business must be located in Greater Minnesota and must be adding three or more new jobs.
  • Funding: The grant is based on a sliding scale, awarding between $5,000 and $9,000 per new job, based on the new hire's wages.
  • Availability: This program is also always open for applications.
  • Who to contact: View regional contact information here.

 

Why Invest in Training?

As you've heard from employers like Sunburst Memorials and Von Ruden Manufacturing, these programs provide tangible, real-world benefits:

  • Boosted Retention: Training shows you're invested in your people, building a strong culture and increasing employee loyalty.
  • Skill Gap Reduction: Ensures your workforce has the precise skills needed to use new technology or take on new roles.
  • Increased Productivity: Highly skilled employees are more efficient, directly impacting your bottom line.

Whether you're looking to upskill a single department or grow your entire company, your local Minnesota CareerForce location partners are ready to help you navigate these tools. Reach out to your regional Workforce Strategy Consultant to start the conversation!

Two leaders from Knobelsdorff Enterprises, an industrial electrical company with locations in Eagan and Goodhue in Minnesota, shared their experience with MJSP. Knobelsdorff Director of Learning and Development Jason Peppler and Apprenticeship Program Manager Brian Gray, Apprenticeship Program Manager and employers shared how they are constantly seeking effective strategies to foster growth, enhance productivity, and retain their best people. The bottom line: investing in people is investing in the business.

Jason shared how he has spent the past 25 years helping teams grow their skills. He shared how at Knobelsdorff, they’ve seen immense success by developing a robust team and leveraging opportunities like the MJSP Grant to fuel their growth. Peppler shared out grant training from MJSP and other grant training programs, are not just about training—they're about building a stronger future. Brian, a Master Electrician who's been with Knoebelsdorf for 12 years, highlights the key benefits of the MJSP Grant for its role in his company’s growth.

  • Safety First: The initial grant focus was on core values, specifically safety, providing critical training in areas like NFPA 70E electrical arc flash and lockout tagout.
  • Rapid Expansion: Starting with an electrical program, the initiative has quickly grown to four fully functional apprenticeship programs (Electrical, Lineman, Labor, and Heavy Equipment Operator).
  • The ROI of Time: As Brian points out, the education in a four-year apprenticeship can cut off 10 years of time it would take to gain the same knowledge solely in the field. This accelerates apprentices to better wages and leadership opportunities quicker, which is a huge motivator.

Strategic Use of Incumbent Worker Training

MJSP grants and other training programs that offer incumbent worker training opportunities are extremely valuable for small and large companies alike, allowing for targeted upskilling of an employer's existing team.

Upskilling Your Current Talent

Jill Kampa highlights how they've used incumbent worker training through Leading CareerForce Partner Career Solutions to address specific organizational needs:

  • Leadership Development: Investing in a supervisor training course through a local college for eight high-potential individuals provided a certificate, confidence, and exposure to the realities of a leadership role—often more impactful coming from an external source.
  • Continuous Improvement: Rolling out Lean principles training to about 80% of the team (from the office to the shop floor) to foster a culture of efficiency and improvement.
  • Financial Acumen: Upscaling managers with courses on understanding balance sheets, income statements, and financial statements through continuing education.

The Small Business Advantage

For smaller companies, grant-funded training can be a lifeline. Steve Geurts, with Von Ruden Manufacturing, which has about 30 employees, shares how incumbent worker training through Leading CareerForce Partner CMJTS made all the difference:

  • Budget Solution: When budgets are tight during a slow year, the grant makes it possible to approve training that otherwise would have been postponed. Steve explained: "When you're slow, budgets are tight, you don't want to spend any extra money. So you wait, then you get busy. Then you don't have the time to train."
  • Internal Mobility: A compelling success story showed an employee who started as a material handler in '89, was cross trained, then ran a machine, became a CNC machinist through incumbent worker training, and is now their primary engineer programming the machines they once operated. This demonstrates the long-term impact on career growth.

 

Measuring Success Beyond Productivity

How do you know if your training investment is truly paying off? The key is looking beyond the day-to-day output.

Retention, Culture, and Succession Planning

For many leaders, the real metrics are:

  • Retention and Turnover: When people feel seen and invested in, they are less likely to look elsewhere.
  • Culture and Engagement: Team members who receive investment show up as their best selves, leading to a positive and engaged culture.
  • Internal Growth: Measuring internal promotions and succession planning—ensuring you've prepared individuals to be ready to fill open leadership roles.

Cultivating Leaders: The Transition from Peer to Boss

Training programs should be designed not just to upskill but to cultivate leaders.

  • Identifying Potential: Look for informal leaders—the ones who naturally take ownership and want to lead, even if they aren't supposed to yet.
  • Targeted Leadership Development: Focus on those "appear today, boss tomorrow" individuals who excel in a non-leadership role but need specific skills for the transition.
  • Actionable Training: Adopt philosophies like "Own It" or Extreme Ownership and provide training on skills like effective coaching and feedback. As Jason Peppler puts it, reading a book on golfing doesn't make you a golfer—you need to practice. The training must provide real-life scenarios and opportunities to practice leadership skills.

By proactively utilizing state resources and designing training that directly targets your business goals and employees' career aspirations, you create a powerful cycle of growth. This deliberate investment not only secures your company's future but fundamentally transforms how your employees feel about the organization, cementing their commitment and driving long-term success.

Industry:
All Industries
Manufacturing
Region:
Central Region
Metro Region
Northeast Region
Northwest Region
Southeast Region
Southwest Region
Statewide
Audience:
Empleadores