EAST STROUDSBURG - East Stroudsburg University’s Office of Workforce Development announced the recipients of the 2011-2012 Employee Training Grants from the Workforce and Economic Development Network of Pennsylvania (WEDnetPA).

ESU received $222,134.00 in WEDnetPA grant funding provided by the PA Department of Community and Economic Development (DCED).  The grants will be awarded to 23 of the 23 companies which applied for the training grants.  Nineteen of the grant applicants were small to medium-sized companies with less than 200 employees.  Funding for WEDnetPA is provided by the PA Department of Community and Economic Development (DCED).

Pocono winners:

Monroe County:

• Bustin Industrial Products
• ESSA Bank & Trust
• Financialfootprint, LLC
• Megaphase, LLC
• Patterson-Kelly Company
• Sanofi Pasteur
• Stellar Technology Solutions, LLC
• United Envelope, LLC
• Weiler Corporation

Pike County:

• Biondo Group, LLC

Wayne County:

• Devereux Pocono

The WEDnetPA Program provides qualified companies with funds for training their employees in Basic Skills up to $450 per eligible employee and in Information Technology up to $850 per eligible employee.  Companies may qualify for a total of $75,000 for Basic Skills and $50,000 for IT training.  Funding is available primarily to manufacturing and technology-based industries including financial, healthcare, biotech and environmental-tech companies.  Companies not eligible for funding include point-of-sale retailers, training vendors, government, education and non-profit organizations (except for healthcare institutions and agencies).

WEDnetPA’s mission is to build and strengthen employee productivity in  Pennsylvania’s workforce by supporting training that will put employees on a path to  higher performance.  The WEDnetPA Program provides qualified companies with funds for training their employees in Basic Skills and Information Technology.  Companies identify their own training needs, which may involve skills that are general to the workplace or specific to their industry.  Companies also choose their own training providers:  on-line courseware or traditional classroom instruction, conducted by either in-house staff or third-party trainers.

ESU in partnership with PA Department of Community and Economic Development (DCED) assists companies with their training needs.  ESU is a certified WEDnetPA partner authorized to apply for funding on a company’s behalf www.wednetpa.com