Workforce Training

A small manufacturer in Bloomington faces many pressures. Joe Diemer has owned Midwest Molding Solutions for a quarter century.

Heartland Community College's Workforce Equity Initiative teaches low-income people the skills needed to work higher-paying jobs.

Heartland Community College has signed up 26 new apprentices to learn and train with businesses in the region, while getting paid. During National Apprenticeship Week, Heartland is spotlighting more than 60 active apprenticeships to boost the regional workforce.

The college in Normal is requesting funding through the Illinois Board of Higher Education’s RAMP [Resource Allocation and Management Program] for a new health sciences center and a new career and technical education building.

As more daycare operators leave the field for better-paying jobs, families have fewer child care options, says the union that represents 15,000 providers.

A total of 75 graduates were celebrated Thursday for their completion of Heartland Community College’s Workforce Equity Initiative (WEI) program. The WEI was created in 2019 to give low-income families and the African-American community a boost in the job market.

Heartland Community College is celebrating national apprenticeship week with a signing ceremony for new career training enrollees.

Bloomington-Normal and the rest of McLean County have a worker shortage. So does much of the rest of the nation. Policymakers and educators are grappling with a multiyear challenge to increase the supply of workers who can keep the area financially strong and vital.

McLean County businesses expect to add more than 2,500 jobs in the next three years. That's according to a survey of more than 100 employers conducted for the Chamber of Commerce.

Illinois Wesleyan University in Bloomington has added three new majors — public health, quantitative finance, and professional sales — as part of an ongoing campus-wide effort to appeal to more workforce-oriented families and students.