Gov. Beshear: Over $1.5 Million Approved Statewide To Support Training for More Than 6,500 Kentucky Workers

Kentucky companies continue to invest in state’s current and future workforce

FRANKFORT, Ky. (Feb. 15, 2024) – Today, Gov. Andy Beshear highlighted Kentucky’s continued investment in workforce training initiatives as he announced over $1.5 million in funds and credits have been approved through the Bluegrass State Skills Corp. (BSSC) to assist with the training of over 6,500 Kentucky workers and employees.

“Kentucky’s record-breaking economic success is directly related to the hard-working, skilled individuals that make up the commonwealth’s workforce,” said Gov. Beshear. “Programs like the Bluegrass State Skills Corp. provide the necessary funding to train and support workers across Kentucky. This training will help give employees the tools they need to be successful and keep the commonwealth’s historic economic momentum going.”

Through the BSSC’s Grant-in-Aid and Skills Training Investment Credit programs, over $1.5 million in state support was approved to train and develop 6,543 Kentucky employees across 25 companies.

Included among this month’s approvals was workforce training support for over 1,000 trainees at GE Appliances in Louisville and an additional 684 trainees for Montaplast of North America in Frankfort. Other approvals include 487 trainees at Bluegrass Business Consortium Inc. in Berea, 307 trainees at Bluegrass Training Consortium Inc. in Georgetown, 317 employees at Kentucky Alliance Training Consortium Inc. in Georgetown, 221 trainees at Faurecia Interior Louisville LLC and 200 workers at Lyons Magnus LLC in Walton.

Including this month’s meeting, Gov. Beshear has now announced nearly $15 million in funding through BSSC across 78 projects to train over 28,000 Kentucky workers for fiscal year 2024.

Gov. Beshear previously announced over $10 million in funding for 115 applicants throughout the state to train nearly 35,000 workers for fiscal year 2023. The state also provided over $8.4 million in funds and credits during fiscal year 2022. Those funds assisted with workforce training for more than 35,400 Kentucky employees – the most since 2016.

The Grant-in-Aid and Skills Training Investment Credit programs assist employers throughout the commonwealth. Grant-in-Aid provides cash reimbursements for occupational and skills upgrade training at Kentucky businesses, while the Skills Training Investment Credit offers state income tax credits for companies to offset the costs for approved training programs. Applications for both programs are accepted and considered for approval by the BSSC Board of Directors.

BSSC incentives are available to a range of operations, including manufacturing, agri-business, nonretail service or technology, headquarters operations, state-licensed hospital operations, coal severing and processing, alternative fuel, gasification, renewable energy production and carbon dioxide transmission pipelines.

For more information on BSSC or to apply for workforce training assistance, click here.

Kentucky’s investment in workforce training builds on the best four-year period for economic growth in state history.