The Sheboygan County Economic Development Corp. is donating two vans to the Joseph Project, a program that transports Milwaukee residents to Sheboygan employers for work.
The project was started in September 2015 by Greater Praise Church of God in Christ. It takes people looking for opportunities and puts them through a week-long soft skill training session. Participants are then given an opportunity to interview at firms in Sheboygan County. More than 50 Milwaukee residents have gotten jobs through the program.
The church also provides transportation to and from Sheboygan, putting roughly 9,000 miles on the church’s 15-passenger van each month.
The vans donated by the Sheboygan County EDC are intended to help accommodate growth in the program. They also feature marketing for the Sheboygan area’s “Someplace Better” campaign. Business leaders in Sheboygan announced the initiative in January as an effort to attract talent to the area. When the campaign was launched, executives from Sargento Foods, Kohler, Bemis and Aurora said their businesses had hundreds of openings they could not fill.