Grant Aims to Boost Retail Career Services

The Northwest Indiana Workforce Board has been chosen to receive a $387,000 grant from The Chicago Cook Workforce Partnership. The grant will be used to provide services to job seekers in Lake County, specifically in the retail and adjacent sectors.

The funding is part of a nearly $11 million grant awarded to the partnership from the Walmart Foundation. The NWIWB says services include job readiness training specially customized to the retail sector, job placement assistance, resume writing and interview skills workshops and post placement services to promote job retention. 

"Our collaborative effort with The Partnership, Lake County business leaders and government officials, and the nine other selected workforce development boards will allow us to foster workforce training innovation in a sector that WDBs have not traditionally focused on – retail," said George Douglas, chair of the NWIWB. "With the retail industry supporting one in four American jobs, this grant presents a tremendous potential for impact, from entry-level to middle skills jobs. The goal of this grant is to create clear career paths in retail for hundreds of workers, providing skills training and new approaches to accelerate career advancement."

The NWIWB is one of 10 workforce development boards from around the country to develop new models of retail-specific career services.