Four Cranston businesses were awarded nearly $16,000 in “Express Grants” from the Governor’s Workforce Board (GWB) in order to improve skills of existing workers.

“The Governor’s Workforce Board Express Grants can help Rhode Island businesses invest in the training they need to become more productive and competitive,” Governor Lincoln Chafee said.

Cranston Tools received $5,000 to train four employees in lean manufacturing methodology; DiPrete Engineering received $4,380 to provide 15 employees with communications, safety and leadership training; Morris & Broms received $4,700 to provide 14 employees with ISO international standards training; and Netsense received $1,845 to train an employee in PHP and SQL programming.

Express Grant applications are accepted on a rolling basis and grants are evaluated by a committee of workforce development experts and prior grant recipients.

DiPrete Engineering, located on Stafford Court, has received funding through the Governor’s Workforce Board in the past. Through this newest round of grant funding, they will both build on past initiatives and develop additional job training. One employee took part in a Dale Carnegie leadership course, for example, and six others benefited from HAZWOPER (Hazardous Waste Operations and Emergency Response) training.

“It improves their skills and expands our ability to work in hazardous areas,” said Karen King, managing director of business administration.

These types of trainings are something that DiPrete seeks out often.

“We’re already investing a lot in our employees,” King said. “We have ongoing training so when we can utilize these grants, it’s great.”

Building on past grants, DiPrete continues to implement the Lean Leader system, a training program that improves efficiencies in the workplace. The Lean approach provides problem-solving tools and, through its standardized process, improves performance and speed.

“We’re on a continual improvement track. We learned all the tools of how to do Lean and now we’re working it into the culture,” King said. “It improves our business processes within DiPrete Engineering so we can become more competitive. It becomes imperative for us to improve our business processes in order to do more with less.”

At Netsense, on Sharpe Drive in Cranston, the company agreed to offer an internship, so its matching contribution was covered by GWB.

“The Governor’s Workforce Board is committed to helping the next generation gain work experience and work readiness skills,” GWB Executive Director Rick Brooks said in a statement. “Offering incentives for businesses to provide internships is one way we hope to foster these types of opportunities.”

Amy Ells, vice president of business development, says the interns aren’t the only ones benefiting from the program.

“It’s a win-win for us; we’ve been able to learn a lot from them as well,” she said.

College-level interns come in and hit the ground running, and Ells says they absorb new information like sponges. Seeing familiar work through fresh eyes strengthens employee performance, and longtime workers learn more about social media and other technology that the interns are so well versed in.

Ells has agreed to serve on a board made up of private company executives that will guide the GWB going forward. One thing she continues to emphasize to the governor’s office is the importance of communication skills, something she sees as crucial to education and job training.

“There really needs to be a strong emphasis on communication skills at the college level. Those skill sets are just as important to us as any technical skills that one can get from education,” she said.

Interns generally come into Netsense for a 10-week period with the goal of getting a job with the company. The Express Grants fund the small intern salaries.

“With mentoring or internships, it does take quite a bit of resource time from the company so there’s quite a large commitment,” Ells said.

That commitment, she adds, is worth it. Not only does Netsense benefit from trained new employees and a trial period for potential hires, but they are also working to improve the state’s overall economic climate.

“The goal of this is to ensure that people going to college in Rhode Island will then stay in Rhode Island,” she said.