Governor Urges Continued Investment in Education and Workforce Development through WIP Initiative

Governor Mark Gordon submitted a budget letter to the Wyoming Legislature’s Joint Appropriations Committee calling for a $30 million investment to ensure long-term sustainability of his Wyoming Innovation Partnership. The WIP initiative is a collaboration aimed at aligning workforce development and education to help drive Wyoming’s economy and to help address workforce shortages that many businesses are experiencing. 

The first two phases of WIP included the creation of Wyoming’s first applied software development degree; successfully placing students into the Wyoming workforce after they graduated from the WIP-enabled Powerline Technology program at Western Wyoming Community College; and the establishment and expansion of multiple healthcare and nursing training programs at Wyoming community colleges.  Gordon said that the next phase of WIP will focus on evaluating sustainability to the developed programing and further coordinating efforts to support thriving Wyoming communities in the long-term.