TRENTON, November 18, 2010 – Supporting Gov. Chris Christie’s agenda for economic expansion and job creation in New Jersey, Commissioner Harold J. Wirths today announced the award of another $3.4 million in training grants through the Department of Labor and Workforce Development’s Customized Training and Literacy Basic Skills Training grants program.

In this second round, more than 80 competitive grants were awarded to businesses and consortia of multiple employers. The department will award additional competitive grant funding in the coming months.

Through the first two rounds of grants in Fiscal Year 2011, the Christie Administration has awarded more than $6 million to train more than 18,000 workers, including 2,300 new hires. The more than 240 companies receiving grants will match them with nearly $9.9 million of their own resources.

“One of the top priorities of Governor Christie and Lt. Governor Guadagno is to strengthen New Jersey’s economic foundation,” said Wirths. “Small to mid-size businesses are the engine that will help drive our economic recovery and create jobs.

These grants will fund training in direct worker skills employers identify as essential for their businesses to become more productive, competitive, and successful for the future.”

The Christie Administration is working to make New Jersey more attractive for businesses by advocating the state’s strategic access to major financial markets and transportation networks, promoting the state’s highly trained workforce and elite research universities, and the state-of-the-art energy and communications infrastructure.

The customized training grants will assist participating businesses to raise the productivity and skills of their workers and increase their ability to compete in the global economy. The grants will provide training to more than 9,700 individuals.

Customized training grants are matching grants awarded through the Department of Labor and Workforce Development and funded through the Workforce Development Partnership Program. New Jersey businesses awarded the customized training grants will invest an additional $5.8 million in training.

Approximately 80 percent of the grants will assist small and medium size businesses and over one-third of the grants will assist manufacturing companies.

Workplace Literacy Basic Skills Training grants help incumbent workers improve vital workplace skills in basic computer applications; mathematics and measurement; verbal; written; and customer service communications; and English-as-a-second-language.

Individual businesses or a business consortium led by educational institutions, non-profit organizations, trade associations, and labor unions are eligible to apply for grants on an on-going basis. The Department of Labor and Workforce Development will match interested applicants with a Business Representative who will provide assistance throughout the application process.

Information about customized training and literacy grants and  how to apply is available online at: http://lwd.state.nj.us/labor/employer/training/incentives_training_index.html

Grants awarded this round include:

Mira Plastics, a manufacturer of custom injection molding products located in Fredon Township, was awarded a $16,000 Customized Training grant. The company will contribute an additional $22,156 to train employees in ISO Quality Systems. 

St. Joseph’s Medical Center, a provider of comprehensive health services, medical education, and clinical research located in Paterson, was awarded a $75,000 Customized Training grant. St. Joseph’s will contribute $115,073 to train employees in Medical Records Technology and PC Skills. 

DRS C3 & Aviation, located in Oakland, Bergen County, was awarded a $48,800 Customized Training grant. DRS, a defense technology firm, holds leading market positions in thermal imaging devices; rugged computer systems; power and environmental control systems. The company will use the grant and an additional $77,718 in company funds to train employees in Lean Manufacturing Principles.

Dialogic Inc., located in Parsippany-Troy Hills, was awarded a $65,400 Customized Training grant to train employees in Computer Programming, Computer Engineering, Materials Resource Planning, and Logistics & Materials Management. The company will contribute $122,387 to the training effort and skill enhancement of their employees.

Disc Makers – Audio & Visual Labs, located in Pennsauken, manufactures and replicates CD and DVD packages, was awarded a Customized Training grant for $75,000. Disc Makers will contribute an additional $96,714 to train their employees in Lean Manufacturing, PC Skills, and Business Management.

General Mills - Progresso, a food manufacturer located in Vineland, received a $74,996 Customized Training grant. Progresso will contribute $235,443 to provide Industrial Machine Maintenance, Kitchen Personnel/Cook Training, Agricultural Production Processing, and Information Science and Systems Training to all 489 employees of their Vineland facility.

D’Artagnan Inc., located in Newark, was awarded a $47,400 Customized Training grant to provide Customer Service Skills; Operations Management; Human Resource Management; Logistics and Materials Management; Team Building; Leadership for Results, and PC Skills training to their employees. D’Artagnan Inc., a distributor of gourmet meat products, primarily to the restaurant industry but also the retail market, will contribute $47,698 to the training in the form of employee wages.

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