The Massachusetts Workforce Training Fund Programs award grants to help businesses and labor organizations train the Commonwealth’s workers, enhancing their existing skills and introducing them to new technologies, production methods, and customer satisfaction tools. Organizations employing Massachusetts workers can pursue three avenues to acquire state funds for the purposes of subsidizing employee training: the General Program, the Express Program, and the Hiring Incentive Training Grant. These programs are described below.
-The business or labor organization applying for a grant must pay into the Workforce Training Fund and must be current with all state taxes and liabilities.
-A certified copy of a certificate of good standing from the Massachusetts Department of Revenue must be provided by any WTF grant awardee prior to being approved for grant funds.
Program Types
| General Program |
Express Program |
Hiring Incentive Grant |
| For any size company training employees in job-related skills through a program designed by the company |
For small companies (50 or fewer employees) training employees using off-the-shelf training |
HITG assists companies of any size in paying for training for new employees that meet certain criteria |
| Applications may be submitted at any time but will be reviewed according to published deadlines. |
There are no deadlines. Applications can be submitted anytime. |
Application must be submitted within 30 days of the new hire’s start. |
| Grant decisions are made approximately 60 days after the application deadline. |
Grant decisions are made within 5 business days from filing the application. Training may begin 6 weeks from the date of application. |
Grant decisions are made approximately 5 days from filing the application. |
| Grant match by the applicant and/or its partners can be cash or in-kind. Grant payments are made throughout the life of the grant. |
The business or labor organization must pay at least 50% of the training costs. It will be reimbursed 50% of the total cost of training after the training is completed. |
The company must pay the wages of the employee while in training. |
| Training programs must be completed within 24 months. |
Training must be completed in 12 months or less. |
Training programs must be completed in 12 months or less. |
| Maximum amount of grant is $250,000. |
Total grant request cannot exceed $30,000 over a 24-month period. $3,000 per course per trainee. |
Total grant request cannot exceed $30,000 over a 1-year period. $2,000 per new hire. |
| Financial documents (preferably audited), Massachusetts Department of Revenue (DOR) Certificate of Good Standing, Return on Investment (ROI) forms must be submitted at the time of application. |
Training course must be selected from a pre-approved list of vendors. |
Each new hire must have been unemployed for at least six months; the period of unemployment is waived for Veterans (DD214 is required).
Trainees must be Massachusetts residents. |
