Focus On:
Helping Businesses Grow

Moraine Park worked closely with businesses to secure sizeable grants to fund employee training during 2006. The goal: to grow companies through quality and efficiency.

“Moraine Park partners with workforce development boards, local and regional economic development groups, and employers to address workforce attraction and development issues,” said Kathy Schlieve, economic and workforce development sales representative. “Our mission is to build and maintain a competitive workforce that keeps businesses in our district growing and prosperous in today’s global economy.”

Grant Procurement, Employee Training, Community Outreach

In doing so, the College often develops and delivers employee training designed to improve a company’s productivity or efficiency, or to target a specific business need. In support, Moraine Park helps companies secure government grants to help fund that training. During 2006, the College helped several businesses, and the child care industry, in this way.

Improving Quality Child Care in the District

For the fifth consecutive year, Moraine Park received a sizeable Department of Workforce Development (DWD) Community Child Care Initiative grant. The $96,000 grant, part of Gov. Jim Doyle’s KidsFirst initiative, funded child care education programs and the Building Our Future - One Child at a Time conference, held in April 2007. The child care conference engaged more than 130 child care professionals and students from the Moraine Park district, according to Kristen Finnel, dean of health science, public services and child care.

“There are simply not enough quality places in Wisconsin for working parents to take their children for daycare,” said Finnel. With this in mind, Moraine Park is dedicated to improving the quality of child care professionals and facilities through program offerings that include an Early Childhood Education associate degree, a Child Care Services technical diploma and certificates in Infant/Toddler Credential, Child Care Administrative Credential and Child Care Mentor/Protégé. Moraine Park also boasts the full-service Tiny Tech Child Development Center, located at its Fond du Lac campus, which serves 50 children and simultaneously acts as a place where Moraine Park child care students acquire mandatory hands-on experience. And while 120 Moraine Park students are pursuing either a technical diploma or an associate degree in the child care field, the College constantly works to expand child care training beyond campus.

The DWD funds received in 2006 helped Moraine Park expand its reach by bringing child care providers from throughout the district together at the Building Our Future - One Child at a Time conference. Participants received child care training, shared ideas and best practices, and gained continuing education hours as required for licensed day care providers, according to Finnel.

Targeted Training Funded by Grant Dollars

Similarly, several businesses received Wisconsin Technical College System (WTCS) Workforce Advancement Training Grants, including Alto Dairy in Waupun, Grande Cheese in Lomira and Brownsville, Quality Packaging Inc. in Fond du Lac and Regal Ware Inc. in West Bend.

“The grants helped the companies build a more competitive workforce, trained to implement advanced manufacturing technology solutions that will serve to increase each organization’s competitiveness,” said Schlieve. “Additionally, training in leadership was provided to help improve communication while strengthening cross-functional team work and employee engagement.” In every instance, Moraine Park helped secure the grants and delivered subsequent employee training according to the needs of the individual businesses.

As a result of a $21,000 grant, 100 Alto Dairy employees received training in safety, lean manufacturing processes and computer system implementation. Quality Packaging, Grande Cheese and Regal Ware also benefited from a joint grant to provide lean manufacturing training to a combined 300 employees. “Moraine Park offered new ways of looking at the business to improve the quality of our products and processes,” said Bryan Gill, director of total rewards at Grande Cheese. “Employees had an opportunity to use new tools that advanced their knowledge and skill level in the area of troubleshooting and problem-solving.”

Grande Cheese not only honed the skills of company leaders through a multi-level training program, the company also worked with Moraine Park to establish training to advance the skills of maintenance personnel company-wide. “Moraine Park is truly a partner,” said Gill. The College helped Grande in all phases of the training, including understanding company needs, addressing those needs, developing and delivering employee training, and securing funding to support the training. Already training is impacting efficiencies there. “We are building on our skills in maintenance, quality and leadership,” said Gill. “We project a cost savings of more than $100,000 for some of the maintenance projects and will most likely see benefits in leadership in years to come.”

Helping Businesses Grow

Message from the President

Hello. I’m Dr. Gayle Hytrek, President of Moraine Park Technical College. Thank you for your interest in Moraine Park Technical College by reviewing our 2006-2007 Annual Report. The theme of this year’s report focuses on our changing communities and the impact of Moraine Park in meeting our communities’ needs.
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              - Gayle Hytrek, Ed. D.
                Moraine Park President