This employer-driven program is designed to provide direct financial assistance to train workers and improve the economic competitiveness of Ohio's employers. The voucher program is designed to offset a portion of the employer's costs to upgrade the skills of its incumbent workforce and will provide reimbursement to eligible employers for specific training costs accrued during training. The program's funding will be used in conjunction with private contribution to fund skill-upgrade training.  Eligible employers must demonstrate that by receiving funding assistance through the Voucher Program that their business will not only obtain a skilled workforce but will improve their company processes and competitiveness.

To learn more about the Ohio Incumbent Workforce Training Voucher Program, including program guidelines and instructions, visit http://www.development.ohio.gov/bs/bs_wtvp.htm . Please note that the application instructions are very comprehensive in order to assist you with completing the application.  You will want to be familiar with this document prior to beginning an application and should refer to them during the application process.

The online application will be available early summer at https://development.ohio.gov/IncumbentWorkforce/.

Please note that the program is first come, first served.  The caps on the program funding will be $500,000 per eligible company and/or $4,000 per eligible employee, with a reimbursement rate of up to 50%.

Below, find answers to some of our most frequently asked questions.  For additional assistance, contact Shannon Vanderpool at (614) 644-8560 or Shannon.vanderpool@development.ohio.gov or Barbara Miller at (614) 644-6107 or Barbara.miller@development.ohio.gov.

Answers to some frequently asked questions:

• Only one application per employer will be accepted per program year.  If an employer has multiple sites, those sites must work together to submit the one application.

• The company's NAICS code  (http://www.naics.com/search.htm) will determine eligibility as to the ten targeted industries.

• A corporate headquarter is defined as the entity at the top of a corporation that takes full responsibility for the overall success of the corporation and ensures Corporate Governance.  A corporate headquarters is considered a business' most prestigious location. To be considered a corporate headquarter, the corporation will have at least one other office or business location.  Training will be for the corporate headquarter's staff only.