Raising Money With Grants

Illinois Worker Training Grants for Entrepreneurs

Businesses in Illinois can take advantage of worker training grants for entrepreneurs. The program is called the Employer Training Investment Program and it can be a great source of funds for a growing company.

Training employees can eat up a large chunk of a small business budget.

In addition to bringing new workers up to speed, growth-minded small business owners are faced with the prospect of continuous rounds of training to keep their workforce current on the latest processes, technologies and workflows.

The task of managing training-related expenses is daunting, even for employers who make the decision to conduct the majority of their training using in-house resources. For most companies, reduced cost employee training would go a long way toward offloading the burden on both business owners and the company's bottom line.

In Illinois, reduced cost employee training is within the reach of entrepreneurs and small business owners. Illinois worker training grants give entrepreneurs potential access to state-funded training for their current workforce. The program is called ETIP (Employer Training Investment Program) and here's what it's all about.

Program Overview

ETIP is designed to keep Illinois workers at the top of their game. The goal of the program is to help workers stay current with technology and new business processes. Grants offered by ETIP will reimburse companies for up to 50% of the costs they incur to train their workforce. Although ETIP doesn't completely relieve companies of training expenses, it creates a viable partnership between the state, small businesses and their employees.

Funding Parameters

ETIP has certain restrictions regarding the employees who are covered by grants. First, the employees must have been hired prior to the start of the training program. If you decided to hire workers after the training program began, the cost of their training will not be reimbursed. Additionally, training instructors can be plant workers, public educators, private consultants or others possessing the required expertise, and grants can be awarded to individual companies, manufacturers that offer training for their products or third-party training providers.

Single Company & Multi-Company Grants

Individual businesses can receive ETIP grants if they qualify under the program guidelines. Qualifications include companies that are expanding their territory, expanding their business in Illinois, introducing more efficient technologies, increasing exports out of Illinois or providing training to layoff-vulnerable workers. Multi-company training grants are also available for third-party training providers that are conducting sessions for workers from multiple organizations.