Skills for Small Business
Through the Texas Workforce Commission (TWC) Skills for Small Business (SSB) program, small business can apply to TWC for trainings offered by Laredo College. TWC processes the applications and works with Laredo College to fund specific courses selected by businesses for their full time employees.
The Skills for Small Business program supports business with fewer than 100 employees and emphasizes training for new and incumbent workers.
Skills for Small Business emphasizes training for full-time, regular employees.
- The program pays up to $1,800 for each new employee being trained and $900 for existing employees per contract.
- All training must be provided by a public community or technical college, or the Texas A&M Engineering Extension Service (TEEX). No third-party vendor training is allowed.
- Training must be selected from active course catalogs/schedules— credit, continuing education, online, or other available unpublished courses.
- Employers must pay the prevailing wages in the local labor market for the trainees funded under the grant.
How to Apply
- Identify new or incumbent employees to be trained.
- Identify each employee’s job/occupational title and corresponding Standard Occupational Classification (SOC) Code. Employers may use O*NET-SOC Auto Coder to find the best match between job titles/descriptions and SOC-coded occupations.
- Identify employees' wages. Wages must meet or exceed the prevailing wage for the area where the business is located.
- Apply online.
- View the Skills for Small Business FAQ for additional information on completing and submitting applications to TWC.
For assistance, contact TWC's Workforce Business Services staff at 877-463-1777 or SkillsforSmallBusiness@twc.texas.gov.