Wisconsin's WisCaregiver Careers Program

Friday, October 13th, 2023 -- 10:00 AM

(Cleo Krejci, Milwaukee Journal Sentinel) Seeing the effects of understaffing, the Wisconsin Health Care Association took a leap: It started training people as certified nursing aides, for free, through the WisCaregiver Careers program.

According to Cleo Krejci with the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, more than 2,000 people have become CNAs and worked in Wisconsin nursing homes since the program began in 2018.

A big reason why WisCaregivers grew into an ongoing public private partnership is because in 2020, it received nearly $400,000 through Wisconsin Fast Forward, a decade-old state grant program.

The Legislature cut Fast Forward’s 2023-25 budget by 16% this spring, suggesting the Department of Workforce Development had failed to spend all of the money it could on the program. The funding now caps at $10.5 million, or $2 million less than the previous funding cycle.

It's true that DWD spends some Fast Forward money on workforce programs other than grants to employers, as it’s allowed under state law. However, issues getting money out the door in grants appear tied up in the program’s structure and requirements, nuances that are largely set by the state Legislature.

Even when grants run smoothly, Fast Forward’s data-heavy, reimbursement-based structure means money is slow to trickle from the state to employers. If grant recipients run into hiccups leading new worker training programs, they could risk losing out on funding they expected to receive. 

On average, 51% of grants end up receiving full funding or within $100 of it, according to DWD. Employers cite issues with the program’s “red tape” and “insidious paperwork,” according to comments submitted by grant recipients to the DWD and obtained by the Journal Sentinel through a public records request.

Many employers also had trouble finding enough workers to complete the training programs, citing labor shortages. The 2023-25 funding cut leaves less money available for a state program that has spread $45 million across Wisconsin in the past decade, paying to train special education teachers, childcare workers, tool and die makers, medical assistants and registered behavioral technicians, among others.

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