JACKSON, Miss. – Imagine a big project comes to Mississippi, like a large ship needs to be built on the gulf coast, or a new manufacturing company sets up shop in North Mississippi.
Those companies have a demand for skilled workers, and a new plan proposed by Governor Phil Bryant would allow Mississippians to get training for those jobs on the state’s dime at local community colleges. It’s the Keep Mississippi Working Fund, which Bryant announced during his 2015 State of the State address.
Bryant is asking the Mississippi Legislature to pass a bill to create the program. If passed, over the first two years $50 million dollars would be transferred into the fund out of the state’s unemployment trust fund. The state workforce investment board would then appropriate the money to community colleges where projects are located.
