The skills and abilities of your employees greatly impact the success of your business. Investing in their training improves productivity, engagement, retention and morale.

While upgrading the skills of your existing workforce or incoming employees is an ongoing and important need, it can be expensive. For this reason, many companies put it off or simply don’t do it. That can be even more costly in lost productivity and competitiveness.

We secure and manage grants and make investments in employment and training programs to help local businesses, like yours, grow and thrive. You can receive customized training at your location, certification or online training, and consortium-style classroom training through our public-private partnerships. Investing in your employees will help you succeed.

One of your greatest assets could be our network of partners. We bring together industry, community colleges and universities, labor groups, government, economic development agencies, K-12 school districts, nonprofits and community organizations. Working together, we identify challenges, like skills gaps and worker shortages in key occupations or industries. We design programs, secure funds and leverage resources to get people working. Our investments train and create opportunity for our community members while helping to grow the economy and support local businesses.

• Our partnership with LinkedIn Learning can provide your employees living in Clark, Cowlitz or Wahkiakum counties in Washington State with short-term training in the following pathways: Digital Marketing Specialist, Project Management, courses to prepare for CompTIA A+ and CompTIA A+ Network certifications, Agile Software Developer, SQL Developer, Java Programmer, and Microsoft Office. For individuals interested in learning more, click here.
• Looking for additional employees? Our partnership with WorkSource provides you no-cost employee recruitment, screening and assessment services, as well as on-the-job training programs that could reimburse your business for a portion of the cost of training new hires in specific jobs.
• Need employee training? For each dollar invested in an apprenticeship, companies receive a benefit of $1.38. On top of financial benefits, you train your employees the way you want them trained and they often stay longer in their jobs. Read our Apprenticeship Guide and contact us for assistance in developing your own apprenticeship program.
• Want to grow your business? Our economic development and other partners have the knowledge and expertise to help you expand, build or find a new space. We connect your business with resources to ensure sustainable growth.
• Have a location in a nearby Oregon county? As a member of the Columbia-Willamette Workforce Collaborative (CWWC), we take a regional approach to workforce development and collaborate with workforce agencies that serve Clackamas, Multnomah and Washington counties in Oregon. Our working together gives you access to our shared regional labor pool. Our bi-state collaboration has brought $30 million of additional training funds into the region to build a skilled workforce to support manufacturing, healthcare and technology.

• Manufacturing
• Healthcare
• Technology
• Construction
• Business Solutions

• Healthcare & Technology
  Sean Moore, Senior Project Manager – Healthcare & Technology
  smoore@workforcesw.org I 360.762.8569
• Manufacturing
  Alyssa Joyner, Senior Project Manager – Manufacturing
  ajoyner@workforcesw.org I 503.410.0408
• Construction, partnerships & other workforce services
  Darcy Hoffman, Director of Business Services
  dhoffman@workforcesw.org I 360.608.4949