NEW LIMERICK — The Town of New Limerick was recently awarded a Workforce Development grant to assist Louisiana Pacific Corporation with personnel training needs.
Northern Maine Development Commission (NMDC) staff, in conjunction with LP and the town of New Limerick, prepared the application for the nearly $70,000 of Community Development Block Grant (CDBG) funding on behalf of the municipality.
The $68,250 for job training and orientation classes at the LP facility coincides with a projected increase in employment.
“NMDC provided technical assistance under the CDBG program, provided grant writing services for the Letter of Intent, Phase I application and the project development application,” said Joella Theriault, NMDC community development specialist. “We will also enter into a contract to administer the funds, assure compliance with all CDBG rules and regulations and assure that 51 percent or more of the funds were used to benefit low- to moderate-income individuals.”
“LP came to us to discuss their workforce and job training needs as they expected to ramp up production over the next year,” said Ryan Pelletier, NMDC director of economic and workforce development. “In these economic times, it is difficult to identify nontraditional sources of training monies, as LP was not eligible for some of the more traditional training programs such as those under the Workforce Investment Act.
“This is a great example of a public-private collaborative, in that NMDC helped facilitate and assist one of our region’s largest employers,” Pelletier said.
“This is a great example of business, economic development and a community coming together to address workforce development needs and to strengthen our local community,” said Ryan Bushey, LP human resources manager.
In 2007, LP began an expansion and conversion of its facility from an oriented strand board (OSB) to a laminated strand lumber (LSL) facility. LSL is a structural engineered wood product based on wood-strand technology, and it is used in a wide variety of residential construction applications including headers and beams, wall studs, roof beams and rafters, truss chords, rim board and stair stringers, Bushey explained. The New Limerick facility is only one of a few producers of LSL in North America.
Shortly after the 2008 completion of the expansion, the housing market and economy stumbled but now the housing market has recovered enough to start hiring new employees.
Both the stronger new home construction market and the increase market penetration of LSL have increased demand. According to the CDBG application, to meet that demand, LP’s current employees are working very long hours with much overtime. Additional workers are needed to meet demand for the product.
The grant will be used to provide classroom training and orientation to 26 new full-time employees.
“I would like to thank NMDC for their leadership and the town of New Limerick for their assistance and cooperation in making this grant a success for our business and our community,” added Bushey.
For more information on CDBG applications or other economic and community development opportunities, contact Theriault at (207) 543-1892 or by email at jtheriault@nmdc.org.
