Tim Leeds Havre Daily News tleeds@havredailynews.com
Local people interested in work related to the developing economy of biofuels and alternative energy are getting a leg up from the Havre Job Service Workforce Center and funds from the Workforce Investment in Rural Economic Development. Bev Hagen of the Havre Job Service said it is using money from the WIRED program to provide training in a variety of fields related to energy, targeting unemployed or underemployed residents of the region. “It is focused on short-term training,” Hagen said. This summer, the Job Service is teaming up with Montana State University- Northern in Havre and Stone Child College on the Rocky Boy’s Indian Reservation, using funds from the WIRED grants, U.S. Department of Labor funds administered on the state level, to help students pay for welding training and for getting their commercial driver's licenses. The classes are the latest programs the Job Service has implemented to train local workers through the grant. “We’ve done a plethora of stuff,” Hagen said. The program includes helping students enroll in a welding class being taught by Andrew Johnson at Northern right now, with another scheduled to start Aug. 4, and with truck driver training taught by Sage Technical Services scheduled to start Sept. 8. The actual driving for that class will be done in Havre. Brenda Evans, training consultant with the Havre Job Service, said the Havre Job Service was among eight offices the WIRED region covers most of eastern Montana awarded funds in 2007 to train workers for the field of alternative energy. The Havre center is helping people from Hill, Blaine, Liberty and Chouteau counties. Some 40 different jobs have been identified as directly or indirectly related to the regional energy industry, training for which can be provided through the WIRED funds. Those positions range from cement masons to flaggers, from welders to power plant operators. Hagen said the Job Service is working with local businesses, organizations and the universities and colleges to provide training in those positions. She said the Job Service and Johnson are working with employers to design the welding classes being taught this summer, which will leave the students as certified welders when they graduate. “Our idea, when they leave this class, is to make them as employable as possible but we want to tie that back to the biofuels and energy industry fields,” Hagen said. The amount of the three-year WIRED grant for the training programs varied by region. Hagen said the Havre Job Service originally received $75,000, but later was granted another $50,000. Training provided so far has included sending students to commercial driving courses held by Sage in Billings and Missoula “This is much more convenient to hold it here,” Hagen said training to be flaggers, attending courses sponsored by Bear Paw Development Corp., and training in businesses including Earl Fisher BioFuels in Chester, Havre Refrigeration, Superior Intermodal and Torgerson’s. Hagen said the training is funded through 2009, but she is hopeful the state will receive more WIRED grants and continue the program. “Every penny we’ve been allotted is spoken for, so we hope to get some more,” she said. “We’ve done some really good things with that.”
