7 Rivers Alliance awarded $50k grant

Group to use funds to support places with worker shortages

The 7 Rivers Alliance has been awarded a $50,000 capacity building grant from the Wisconsin Economic Development Corporation.

The alliance will use the funds to facilitate the creation of county workforce response teams to support manufacturers and food processing companies that are experiencing worker shortages.

Lisa Hare, with the alliance, says a program like this may have been around before, but not this large of an effort.

These teams will be formed to cover nine southwest Wisconsin counties. Each team will be comprised of representatives from workforce agencies, business associations, chambers of commerce, social service agencies, workforce boards and higher education.