St. Cloud State University and two St. Cloud businesses have earned workforce development grants totaling more than $500,000 from the Minnesota Department of Employment and Economic Development (DEED) this March.
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St. Cloud State, in partnership with Nahan Printing, Inc. and American Axle & Manufacturing (AAM), earned a $300,000 training grant and $208,546 training grant respectively. These grants were awarded to St. Cloud State from the Minnesota Department of Employment and Economic Development (DEED) this March under the Minnesota Job Skills Partnership. This is the second grant awarded to St. Cloud State and AAM in the past four years.
They will celebrate with a signing ceremony at 1:30 p.m. April 22 at the St. Cloud State Welcome Center.
As part of the grant, St. Cloud State is partnering with local industry companies to strengthen their workforce and will provide customized training to help them maintain their competitive edge in their industries and meet future demands.
Each company will acquire training customized to its specific needs and equipment in order to develop a workforce with cutting-edge knowledge and skills. Nahan Printing, Inc., AAM, and St. Cloud State will partner with St. Cloud Technical & Community College (SCTCC) and Ridgewater Community College to deliver customized training.
The grants are intended to have three outcomes:
- The incumbent worker is gaining skills they can carry with them
- The company is gaining a stronger workforce with enhanced skills specific to their industry
- St. Cloud State, SCTCC, and Ridgewater are gaining increased capacity to develop and deliver new programming that can be used by other businesses
Nahan Printing, Inc. specializes in integrated commercial printing, direct mail and digital solutions. With a current workforce of 364 employees, they expect to add about 58 new employees to help meet customer demands and achieve their goal of 20 percent growth over the next two years. AAM’s St. Cloud manufacturing facility is a ductile iron foundry and manufactures iron castings for SUVs and light trucks. AAM is a leading global tier 1 automotive supplier that designs, engineers and manufactures driveline, metal forming and casting technologies. Headquartered in Detroit, AAM has more than 25,000 associates operating at nearly 90 facilities in 17 countries.
