Job Training

New and expanding businesses are often confronted with the problem of achieving a profit in a short time to offset high start-up costs. Training new employees to become productive workers represents a significant financial investment. Several training programs are available in St. Francois County to assist new or expanding businesses in developing early productivity.

Missouri Customized Training Program

Employers can develop a skilled workforce, and employees can increase their job skills, through the Missouri Customized Training Program. This program is designed to increase and improve Missouri’s workforce by helping new or expanding businesses recruit, train and re-train workers. Employees receive training customized to specific needs of employers through classroom training and on-the-job training. Customized Training is offered through the Missouri Department of Elementary and Secondary Education, the Missouri Department of Economic Development, its Division of Workforce Development and other government agencies.

A program application and additional information can be obtained through the Mineral Area College Customized Training Office at (573) 518-2157 or the Missouri Customized Training Program, P. O. Box 1987, Jefferson City, Missouri 65102-1087, (800) 877-8698.

New Jobs Training Program

Mineral Area College, in cooperation with the Missouri Department of Economic Development, can fund employee training for eligible employers through the marketing of certificates. The certificates are repaid by using tax credits from the employers’ regular withholding of Missouri income taxes. In order to be eligible for this program, employers generally need to create at least 100 new jobs.

This program is intended to provide training and education to workers employed in newly created jobs in Missouri and to help employers reduce the cost of training new workers. Training services can include skill assessments, pre-employment training, training equipment, instruction, curriculum development, and a variety of other training-related services.

Regional Technical Education Council

The Regional Technical Education Council (RTEC) was established in 1996. The goal of RTEC is to improve delivery of post-secondary vocational-technical education and to provide direction and services related to manufacturing and technology, emphasizing high-skill, high-wage occupations in the region.

RTEC improves post-secondary vocational-technical education by developing new associate of applied science degrees and related post-secondary programs. RTEC also coordinates services with Customized Training and Tech Prep, tailoring services to local business and industry needs. RTEC promotes the benefits of vocational-technical education and increases access to training through delivery methods such as distance learning. The organization is made up of representatives from business and industry, public and private education, labor unions, and government agencies.

The Workforce Investment Board of Southeast Missouri (WIB), located in Cape Girardeau, oversees the implementation of the Workforce Investment Act of 1998 (WIA) which is designed to provide higher quality, customer-focused services for a more universal population. Local one-stop delivery systems make employment and training services easily accessible to all citizens. These services include those offered through a range of agencies and programs, including the Workforce Investment Act, welfare-to-work agencies, the Division of Workforce Development, veterans programs, the Older Americans Act, unemployment insurance, adult education and literacy, vocational education, and vocational rehabilitation programs.

One of the basic tenants of WIA is the delivery of services through a network of one-stop career centers to enable job seeker and employer customers to be more efficiently and effectively served. In the Southeast Region, the full-service career center is the Missouri Career Center in Cape Girardeau. Companies and individuals may contact the Career Center by calling (573) 334-0990, Ext. 39, or (573) 290-5766.

In St. Francois County, the WIB operates a Level 2 Career Center which is located at East Missouri Action Agency, 107 Industrial Drive, Park Hills, Missouri, 63601 (573) 431-2229, and a Level 3 Career Center which is located at the Missouri Career Center, 16 South Coffman Street, Park Hills, Missouri, 63601 (573) 431-1510. Level 2 sites are those that are considered to be “near to” full service sites but not officially designated as such. These sites have significant co-location of services occurring and have a reasonable potential to become a full service site in the future. A Level 3 site is also located at the Missouri Career Center, 16 South Coffman Street, Park Hills, Missouri, 63601 (573) 431-1510). Level 3 sites are those that have a significant amount of staffed services available but may not have co-location of other agency staff.