Louisiana Economic Development’s nationally acclaimed FastStart workforce development program may face dramatic cuts under the state budget measures unveiled earlier this week.
The Advertiser reports that LED Secretary Don Pierson said Monday that proposed budget cuts of 21% for his department may affect FastStart, rated by the Business Facilities publication as the best such program in the country for six consecutive years.
“It would affect our ability to partner with regional organizations,” Pierson said. Cuts, which would total some $3.9 million if fully implemented, might also hinder how LED markets the state as a site to do business.
The customized workforce training program has prepared employees for new businesses and industries who move to Louisiana. But Pierson said FastStart has also expanded its focus to help with workforce development for existing Louisiana companies.
Pierson said his department has worked with four-year, two-year and technical schools to develop courses of study for specific jobs, including certificate programs that can be completed in a matter of months rather than in semesters or years. Shorter programs, he said, can open new work “pathways” for employees who want to improve their work skills quickly.
Pierson was in Lafayette on Monday to help introduce AcadianaOpportunity.com, an online portal to help workers connect with available Louisiana jobs. Several regional and local partners have combined efforts in Acadiana to link available jobs with the unemployed, especially those who’ve lost their jobs in the wake of the energy downturn. Some 12,000 people in Acadiana have lost jobs since oil prices started to sink in 2014.
“We’ll have to do more with less,” Jeff Lynn, who leads FastStart, said of the proposed funding decrease. “The workforce is in dire need of support.”
In the short term, Lynn said, FastStart, LED and others will work next with partners in the Houma-Thibodaux, which has lost some 4,000 oil-and-gas related jobs.
The budget will be finalized by June 6.
