VERC Enterprises Awarded Workforce Training Grant by State of Massachusetts
DUXBURY, Mass. — VERC Enterprises has been awarded a $140,000 grant as part of Massachusetts' statewide Workforce Training Fund Program (WTFP).
The convenience retailer will apply the funds to employee training and match the grant with $140,000 of its own money, for a total training cost of $280,000.
The company sought the grant based on employee feedback as a result of its annual employee engagement survey, according to the company. This is the third time VERC Enterprises successfully applied for a WTFP grant.
Specific areas of training will include leadership and management skills; supervisory skills; lean thinking and processes for operations; English as a second language; MS Office tools; task and time management; and effective communications/teamwork.
"We are very pleased to have been selected for this Workforce Training Fund grant," said Leo Vercollone, CEO of VERC Enterprises. "We are big believers in the importance of training and providing the very best resources for our team members, and this award will help us to continue with our mission to do so."
The VERC award is one of 96 that total $10 million in WTFP grants aimed at training more than 6,500 workers and creating 1,361 new jobs in the state by 2021. They involve 133 companies from across Massachusetts and will fund customized training that promotes job growth, retention and increased opportunity for workers.
The Workforce Training Fund is a program of the Executive Office of Labor and Workforce Development and is administered by Commonwealth Corp., the quasi-public workforce development agency that runs the programs that teach people how to work, providing lifelong learning for careers of a lifetime, according to the announcement.
The fund awards grants in amounts ranging from $10,000 to $250,000 to companies in Massachusetts to pay for employee training over a two-year period. Grant recipients contribute a matching investment of at least one dollar for each grant-dollar awarded, with wages paid to trainees during training hours included in that investment.
Based in Duxbury, VERC Enterprises operates 30-plus convenience stores and gas stations in eastern Massachusetts and New Hampshire.