Narrative: III. a. 2. G.

The mission of the Department of Economic Development (DED) is to help Missourians prosper by making Missouri the best place to live, visit, and do business. Through a variety of programs, the Department works closely with companies of all sizes to assist in their growth and the economic advancement of the state. Some of those programs include:

Missouri One Start

Missouri One Start provides a tailored workforce strategy to address the unique needs of a business. Missouri One Start helps businesses of all sizes stay competitive by providing personalized recruitment assistance and resources to train and upskill their new and existing employees. This comprehensive workforce program ensures Missouri businesses have the right workforce, with the right skill set, at the right time.

Missouri One Start partners with community colleges and other local education agencies to customize services ranging from pre-employment screening and recruitment to designing job-specific training both during and after the onboarding process. Training programs are tailored to the unique workforce needs of a business, with flexibility in how services are delivered. Training funds can be used to offset in-house training costs, utilized for preferred training vendors, or applied to one of the training experts located within a community college, state technical college, or career technical center. As employers are ready to hire, the DED team works with the other MPWS partners to coordinate services to feed their talent pipelines and ensure that they have any additional support services which are needed to support this effort.

Within the last five years, Missouri One Start provided training assistance to nearly 2,000 company projects and invested over $93 million to train new and existing employees. As a result, over 164,000 Missourians were able to enhance their skill set with these resources and companies invested over $6 billion in capital expenditures at their facilities in Missouri.

American Rescue Plan Act (ARPA) - Workforce Training Grant Program

The ARPA Workforce Training Grant Program, funded through the American Rescue Plan Act (ARPA), was launched in August 2022. The program awarded competitive grants to a wide range of applicants to train workers for a variety of industries including child care, health care, broadband deployment, manufacturing, and more. The grant is also aimed at helping those who need it most, encouraging recipients to train at-risk and low-income populations. MPWS partners support the grantees by providing various workforce-related services as needed.

With this grant, companies are able to address the broad workforce disruption stemming from the pandemic through grants funding projects to recruit and train individuals who are seeking to move to a job that provides better opportunity for economic advancement. As of January 2023, $30 million in grant funds were awarded.

The MWPS also collaborates with DED on specific programs for targeted populations by ensuring that their respective and combined customers are provided information and resource links to them:

Family Development Account (FDA) is a tax credit for contribution program to help low-income Missourians participate in matched savings programs. These savings programs will help families pay for school or job training, purchase a primary residence, make home improvements, or start up a small business. Under FDA, a tax credit is equal to 50% of eligible contributions, not to exceed $25,000 per contributor.

Missouri Community Service Commission: AmeriCorps provides support to organizations dedicated to the improvement of communities through funding and people power. AmeriCorps grants are provided to nonprofit organizations to help develop a project that meets critical community needs in the areas of education, disaster services, health, environmental stewardship, economic opportunity, and veterans and military families. Planning Grants enable organizations to plan a proposed AmeriCorps program and develop (or replicate) systems for the successful implementation of an AmeriCorps operational grant application. From January-December 2024, selected organizations will use planning grants to become better prepared to compete for an AmeriCorps program grant in the subsequent grant cycle (2025-2026).

Neighborhood Assistance Program (NAP) is a tax credit for contribution program to fund projects such as job training initiatives, crime prevention, education, community service projects, and physical revitalization of community-based buildings and areas. To administer a project, approved eligible nonprofit or business organizations are granted assistance in the form of state tax credits to help attract business donors who would be able to redirect their Missouri tax dollars to an approved community development project. Under NAP, a tax credit is equal to 50% or 70% of eligible contributions. NAP helps encourage donations/contributions to qualifying organizations to fund a variety of activities and projects such as counseling, childcare services, literacy programs, job training, services to ex-offenders, construction of community centers, free business consultation program for entrepreneurs and small business owners, renovation of a distressed building in a downtown or major corridor, and more.

The Youth Opportunities Program (YOP) helps encourage donations/contributions to qualifying nonprofit organizations, local government agencies, businesses, and schools to fund a variety of activities and projects for at-risk youth (21 years and under). Qualifying projects include programs such as internship/apprenticeship programs, violence prevention programs, job training programs, youth activity centers, substance abuse prevention, education programs, mentor and role model programs, and more. YOP tax credits are allocated to approve organizations that secure contributions from individuals and businesses with MO state tax liability. The contributor receives tax credits for those contributions. There are 50% tax credits for monetary contributions and 30% tax credits for property or equipment contributions used specifically for the project.         

In 2023, the Missouri legislature passed HB 417, which created incentives for the purpose of encouraging individuals to obtain employment-related skills. Both of these DED funded programs will increase opportunities for career pathways and allow for significant collaboration among MPWS partners:

Intern and Apprentice Recruitment Act

The Intern and Apprentice Recruitment Act (IARA) encourages businesses to grow the number of interns or apprentices they employ and thus secure and retain workforce talent within the state. For tax years beginning on or after January 1, 2024, this program authorizes an income tax credit for eligible taxpayers who hire an intern or apprentice. The tax credit shall be equal to $1,500 for each intern or apprentice hired at a pay rate equal to or greater than the minimum wage, provided that the number of interns and apprentices employed during the tax year exceeds the average number of interns and apprentices employed by the taxpayer for the previous three years, and further provided that the interns and apprentices work a certain number of hours, as described in the act.   

Upskill Credential Training Fund

Qualifying employers may receive a reimbursement not to exceed two thousand dollars for each employee who obtains upskill credentials, not to exceed thirty thousand dollars in any fiscal year.

The Department of Economic Development will evaluate all applications by qualifying employers on a competitive basis using the following criteria: (a) The pledged average wage increase that employees or prospective employees will realize after obtaining the upskill credential in relation to the cost of obtaining the  upskill credential; (b) The level of economic distress in the qualifying employer's region and the balance of awards made to the various regions of the state; and (c) The contribution made by the qualifying employer toward the cost of obtaining the upskill credential.