BOISE — Idaho Department of Labor officials are extending the deadline by four weeks for those submitting proposals with regards to a new labor force training initiative that brings industry and educational institutions together in a partnership designed to enhance the skills of Idaho workers.

     Under the extension, proposals from educational institutions that have partnered at least three businesses will be due no later than noon on Oct. 4.

     Under the Industry Sector Grant program, three two-year grants of up to $1 million each will be made to educational institutions and their partners to train workers in a target occupation critical to the partner businesses. The business partners must provide a 25 percent cash match to the department grant, which will come from the industry financed Workforce Development Training Fund.

     The fund, financed by a three percent set-aside of the unemployment insurance taxes paid by businesses, has reimbursed employers for training workers for new jobs or retraining workers who would otherwise be laid off.

    Furthermore, the fund, which has been Idaho’s premier economic development incentive, has helped train over 20,000 workers for more than 200 Idaho companies in the last 17 years.

    Training reimbursement is provided only for jobs that pay at least $12 an hour and include employer-assisted medical benefits in industries that produce goods or services marketed primarily outside the employers’ operating regions.

     Grant proposals must include measurable training goals that will be tracked by the department in terms of the number of trained workers who obtain jobs, the number of trained workers who receive pay raises or promotions or the number of trained workers who receive an industry recognized credential or academic credit.

     Complete details on the grant initiative, including the application, are available online at http://labor.idaho.gov/pdf/wdtf_rfp.pdf. Grant proposals must be submitted electronically in pdf, or portable document format, to jennifer.hemly@labor.idaho.gov.

     The initiative, approved by members of the Idaho Workforce Development Council, is the first major departure in use of the Workforce Development Training Fund since its creation in 1996.