The Workforce Competitiveness Trust Fund supplies employers and training providers with the funding to develop programs that will train new workers to address employers’ hiring needs. Read more in the following brochure.
The WCTF invests in demand-driven programs designed by industry sector partnerships that train and place unemployed and underemployed workers. The purpose of the Fund is to support the development and implementation of employer and worker-responsive programs to enhance worker skills, incomes, productivity, and retention, and to increase the quality and competitiveness of Massachusetts businesses. WCTF programs serve people across the Commonwealth whose life experiences and circumstances make it difficult for them to succeed in employment without targeted support. They include individuals who are underemployed and rely on aid from public benefits to support their families, individuals who have been disconnected from the workforce for a long period, and people who have not been able to complete formal schooling.
In 2018, the Massachusetts Legislature voted to rename grant awards from the WCTF in memory of the late Senator Kenneth Donnelly, who was a steadfast champion of promoting workforce opportunities in the Commonwealth, especially for people who might lack a pathway to economic stability. In this spirit, we seek to foster sector partnerships that are powered by local organizations that possess deep expertise and aim to uplift people of all backgrounds. The WCTF model enables community organizations to build and sustain effective partnerships with employer partners and the public workforce system while striving to incorporate more equitable and innovative practices that lead to increased economic mobility for more people in the Commonwealth.
The Workforce Competitiveness Trust Fund supplies employers and training providers with the funding to develop programs that will train new workers to address employers’ hiring needs. Read more in the following brochure.
WCTF grants expand training capacity to upskill new workers and address employers’ hiring needs across a broad range of occupations within industries such as healthcare, IT, transportation, and hospitality.
The enabling legislation for WCTF (Massachusetts General Laws Chapter 29 Section 2WWW) calls for a report to be filed annually with the Secretary of Administration and Finance; the House and Senate Committees on Ways and Means; and the Joint Committees on Community Development and Small Business, Education, Economic Development and Emerging Technologies, Labor and Workforce Development, and Public Health. The report must include the number of educational and eligible service providers receiving grants and participants receiving services and placed in employment, as well as the salary and benefits that participants receive after placement, the cost per participant, and job retention or promotion rates for the year after training ends.
The Workforce Competitiveness Trust Fund (WCTF) was established through economic stimulus legislation passed by the Massachusetts Legislature in 2006. The WCTF invests in demand-driven programs designed by industry sector partnerships that train and place into employment unemployed and underemployed workers. The purpose of the Fund is to support the development and implementation of employer and worker-responsive programs to enhance worker skills, incomes, productivity, and retention and to increase the quality and competitiveness of Massachusetts firms.
By Kathie Mainzer, Workforce Solutions Group, Tonja Mettlach, Massachusetts Workforce Association, and Anne Calef, Boston Indicators