Feb. 12—TRAVERSE CITY — Michigan recently rolled out a record award of grants to help nearly 750 businesses train and retain new and current employees.

The Going Pro Talent Fund announced a record $47 million in grants to state businesses recently. The funding is "to support their in-demand, high-skill talent needs, and help approximately 27,000 workers across the state secure employment, industry-recognized credentials and strong wages," according to a release from Michigan Department of Labor and Economic Opportunity.

The awards included a record amount to 54 businesses in the region served by Northwest Michigan Works.

Rob Dickinson, the regional director for business services at Northwest Michigan Works, said the previous record award from Going Pro Talent Fund was a little under $40 million.

"The $47 million is a record for the state," Dickinson said. "It's also a record for us. We were able to get $1.7 million for our 10-county region."

And the Going Pro Talent Fund is just getting started. The recent announcement is the first for fiscal year 2023.

"We've never had two cycles before," Dickinson said. "It's always been an annual award. We've already broken the record and that's just one cycle."

Dickinson said 66 businesses applied for awards. He said it was refreshing to see businesses in industries beyond the "usual stalwarts" of construction, manufacturing, healthcare and energy receive funding.

Dickinson said agri-business, outdoor recreation, banking/financial, hospitality and information technology received funding in 2023. The Going Pro Talent Fund program began in 2014.

The $1.7 million going to businesses within Northwest Michigan Works is also just scratching the surface of what these companies are investing, Dickinson said.

The companies have "identified spending $6.95 million for training on top of that," Dickinson said.

The average award of $31,000 per company is expected to result in 54 new hires and the training of 966 current employees, Dickinson reported. Of those 1,020 employees, Dickinson said 70 are being trained right now.

Iron Fish Distillery in Thompsonville — located in the northern-most portion of Manistee County just south of Benzie County — received $28,820 for fiscal year 2023. It's the second time Iron Fish has received funding from Going Pro.

Iron Fish Distillery Partner Heidi Bolger said the Going Pro funding will be utilized a number of different ways.

"Key areas for training include improving technical distillation skills, specific marketing skills, food service enhanced approaches, learning strategy development and tracking techniques to name a few of the focuses," Bolger said in a text message.

Of the Northwest Michigan Works received $1,700,109. The breakdown by county in the 10-county Northwest Michigan Works region includes:

Antrim

Elk Rapids Engineering, $7,790; Great Lakes Packing Company, Kewadin, $1,195.

Benzie

BioTech Agronomics, Inc., Beulah, $16,000; Graceland Fruit Inc., Frankfort, $52,750; Honor Bank, $52,170; Moore Mechanical, Honor, $135,872; Xpert Fulfillment, Benzonia, $11,741.

Charlevoix

Boyne Boat Yard, Boyne City, $12,475; Great Lakes Energy, Boyne City, $41,190; Jervis B. Webb — Northern Michigan, Boyne City, $62,577; Michigan Scientific Corp., Charlevoix, $15,276; Performance Engineers Inc., Charlevoix, $10,071; Precision Edge Surgical Products, Boyne City, $54,030; Shaggy's, Boyne City, $6,000; St. Marys Cement, Charlevoix, $78,109; Van Dam Custom Boats, Boyne City, $16,040; Wolfline Construction, Boyne City, $123,030.

Emmet

Bear River Electric, Petoskey, $42,100; Beards Brewery, Petoskey, $11,018; Central Industrial Manufacturing Harbor Springs, $22,000; Circuit Controls Corporation, Petoskey, $55,675; Drost Landscape, Petoskey, $17,370; Harbor Springs Excavating Inc., $9,500; Moeller Aerospace, Harbor Springs, $58,500; Muscotts Painting, Petoskey, $7,960; Petoskey Farms Vineyard & Winery, $7,550; Pierce Electric of Northern Michigan, LLC, Harbor Springs, $7,000; The Highlands at Harbor Springs, $24,000.

Grand Traverse

Area Agency on Aging of Northwest Michigan, Traverse City, $16,000; Cultured Ferments Company LLC, Traverse City, $14,000; Dan Brady Painting and Wood Restoration, Traverse City, $14,000; Great Lakes Orthopaedic Center, Traverse City, $21,000; Great Lakes Stainless, Traverse City, $92,495; Habitat for Humanity Grand Traverse, $12,369;Monarch Home Health Services, Traverse City, $14,500; Paul Davis Restoration, Traverse City, $4,195; Precision Plumbing & Heating Systems, Inc., Traverse City, $38,500; Promethient Inc., Traverse City, $6,197; Safety Net, Traverse City, $38,354; SEEDS Traverse City, $15,415; Skilled Manufacturing, Inc., Traverse City, $44,639; Springfield Inc., Kingsley, $35,600; Tamarack Holdings LLC, Traverse City, $16,164; Venturi Traverse City, $ 26,720.

Manistee

Iron Fish Distillery, Thompsonville, $28,820; M R Products, Copemish, $52,928; Packaging Corporation of America, Filer City, $38,500.

Wexford

Avon Protection Systems, Cadillac, $14,694; Cadillac Casting, Inc., $43,965; Cadillac Fabrication, $11,942; Cadillac Family Physicians PC, $1,950; Fiamm Techologies, Cadillac, $22,720; Hutchinson Antivibration Systems, Cadillac, $10,000; Rexair LLC, Cadillac, $105,453.

The funding awards do not include those made to several Medilodge facilities in the region, which were under Capital Area Michigan Works. Those awards included $37,620 to Medilodge of GTC and $40,400 to Medilodge of Traverse City in Grand Traverse County and $26,500 to Medilodge of Leelanau (County) in Suttons Bay.

The Michigan Works Northeast Consortium received $275,200 for eight counties on the east side of the state. The funding included businesses in Alpena: $10,890 to Ossineke Industries in Alpena; Cheboygan: $20,000 to Link Industries, A Link Group Co. in Indian River and $22,667 to TF-R, Inc. in Afton; Crawford: $4,000 to AJD Forest Products in Grayling, $4,000 to Springs Window Fashions in Grayling and $124,204 to Weyerhaeuser in Grayling; Montmorency: $20,894 to H.B. Carbide Company in Lewiston; Otsego: $10,500 to Cooper Standard Automotive in Gaylord, $8,600 to H & S Mold, Inc. in Gaylord and $49,355 to Sunspring America Inc. (doing business as H & H Tube) in Vanderbilt.

Also under Capital Area Michigan Works was Medilodge of Cheboygan ($30,980), Medilodge of Gaylord ($40,300), Medilodge of Green View ($23,500) in Alpena, Medilodge of Hillman ($15,740) in Montmorency County and Medilodge of Rogers City ($19,500) in Presque Isle County.

The application process for the second cycle of funding from Going Pro opens on May 1. Dickinson said Northwest Michigan Works is expected to start "outreach and education" for applicants sometime in April.

"The Going PRO Talent Fund helps workers get the skills they need to build their lives and advance their careers in Michigan," Gov. Gretchen Whitmer said in the release. "Today's grants will help nearly 750 businesses get the high-skill, in-demand talent they need and empower 27,000 workers earn credentials or certificates to help them land stable, good-paying jobs.

"Since launching in 2014, the Talent Fund has helped 6,000 businesses and 170,000 workers, and today we are keeping that momentum going. Let's keep our foot on the accelerator as we grow our economy, create unparalleled economic opportunity, and empower more people to Make it in Michigan."

"Through programs like the Going PRO Talent Fund, we can ensure Michiganders have a path to good-paying jobs and businesses have the resources they need to stay competitive in today's economy," LEO Director Susan Corbin said in the release. "It's investments like this that will result in a better economy, one that expands economic opportunity by driving educational attainment, increasing workforce participation and creating equal prosperity for all."

A full list of grant recipients for the 2023 fiscal year is available online at Michigan.gov/TalentFund.