The Skills Enhancement Fund, or SEF, provides a 50% match of training expenses for qualified businesses. For the last several years, KSM Location Advisors has consistently sounded the drumbeat – though articles, presentations, in conversations with state officials, and various other means – that SEF is severely underfunded. As the primary funding source for workforce development training, the practical impact of this program being underfunded is that fewer dollars are available for companies to train new and existing employees. This gap makes hiring and maintaining a qualified workforce more difficult in Indiana and contributes to the brain drain of some of Indiana’s best and brightest talent.
Recently, the Indiana Economic Development Association (IEDA), which boasts a membership that represents the core of the most experienced experts in the field of economic development in our state, provided a very convincing case to increase funding for SEF and further promote workforce development in Indiana:
It is our sincere hope that state leaders in the Indiana legislature, as well as Gov. Holcomb, heed the advice of economic development professionals, and strive to increase funding for SEF this legislative session. And, we encourage you to promote the importance of SEF in your conversations with state and local leaders in the coming months as Indiana considers future funding for this vital program.