Department of Workforce Development

For more information, contact:
Patrick Mommaerts, 608/266-8212

Madison, Wis. – Selected Job Centers in the state will share in a $25,000 grant to help them provide additional assistance to job seekers interested in starting their own businesses, the State Department of Workforce Development (DWD) announced today.

The Centers now are being chosen, and will be announced within the next two weeks.   They will be located in five of the state’s 11 "workforce development" areas.  The five are Milwaukee and Rock Counties and west central, north central and western Wisconsin.

Those Centers will be selected based on applications they submitted.  Job Centers in other parts of the state will be considered for inclusion in the small business development program as next year’s budget permits.

Job Center staffs where the new program will be established will work with counselors from the State Department of Commerce and the U.S. Small Business Administration to set up the new services.  They also will help connect new entrepreneurs with a variety of other agencies able to help them succeed with their business plans.

The purpose is to promote self-employment and financial independence among Job Center customers through education, training and counseling opportunities, especially economically disadvantaged job seekers.

DWD also is working on inaugurating an Internet-based "Virtual Business Incubator" to provide a broad range of services to anyone with similar interests.   It now is being developed in cooperation with CAP Services of Stevens Point.

Also being developed by DWD in a cooperative venture with the State Department of Financial Institutions is a financial education program throughout the Wisconsin Job Center Network.  The objective is to promote individual financial independence.

The Job Center network has 76 sites, with at least one Center in all but six of Wisconsin’s 72 counties.