LAUNCHing into bright futures

HAYDEN — It is ideal for Idaho to always have jobs available for Idaho kids.

This produces a positive business climate and a labor force that can fuel that positive business climate, Lt. Gov. Scott Bedke said, during a press conference Thursday in Hayden. 

Idaho LAUNCH grants, which will use state funds to pay for 80% or up to $8,000 of post-high school training and education over two years, are on their way to helping the Gem State and its students align on that trajectory.

“This is just the next step in getting our kids well educated so they can be well-positioned for life,” Bedke said.

Bedke and Gov. Brad Little spoke during the press conference  at the StanCraft Jet Center in Hayden and shared the news that applications for Idaho's LAUNCH program catapulted beyond expectations as 12,588 high school seniors across Idaho submitted or started applications for the first round of grants as of Dec. 28.

That's about two-thirds more than the expected 7,500 applications.

"We’ve got good signup in every area of the state. We’ve got good signup from every county, every legislative district," Little said. "It surpassed what we had anticipated. To me, this is going to be a big game changer."

In the Coeur d'Alene School District, 27% of seniors applied for LAUNCH grants. Lakeland Joint School District reported 62% of its seniors applied, 49% of seniors in the Post Falls School District applied, 11% of seniors in the Kootenai School District applied and the Plummer-Worley Joint School District reported that a whopping 83% of its seniors applied.

About 88% of applications came from public high school students across the state.

Wendi Secrist, executive director of the Idaho Workforce Development Council, praised superintendents and college and career advisers for being instrumental in helping stand up the program and spread the word about it.

“The legislation passed last March and we had to have applications open by Oct. 2 so these guys could submit their applications and we could start making contingent awards,” she said.

For those who submitted applications by Nov. 30, their awards were announced Dec. 22. The awards are contingent upon requirements such as graduating from high school, completing career pathway plans and, most importantly, accepting the grants.

“We thought it would be a nice little Christmas present for them to get that email,” Secrist said. “We are continuing to take applications. We’ll continue to make awards throughout the spring.”

LAUNCH grants are prioritized to help high school graduates with the cost of training for in-demand careers. At the top of the list as of September were office clerks; customer service representatives; carpenters; home health and personal care aides; heavy and tractor-trailer truck drivers; general and operations managers; bookkeeping, accounting and auditing clerks; secretaries; administrative assistants; assemblers; fabricators; electricians; and receptionists, to name a few.

Nearly 80 providers throughout Idaho will deliver education and training offered by LAUNCH grants.

The LAUNCH grant application deadline is April 15. The last round of awards will be made by May.

Alycia Cameron, a Timberlake High senior, will be using her LAUNCH grant to pay for a dental assistant program.

Andrew Pettibone, also a Timberlake senior, wants to use his grant funds for a business management degree at the University of Idaho.

“I hope to successfully own and operate my own trade company, whatever trade that might be," he said.

Per legislation, LAUNCH grants must prioritize in-demand careers. The program now has more demand than its original $75 million budget, so only about 6,700 of the contingent grants were awarded in December. If the Idaho Legislature fully funds the request for $75 million into Idaho LAUNCH, the program is expected to award about 8,700 grants total.

"We definitely have more demand than what we'll have funding for this year," Secrist said.

Little said capacity will be built, but not overnight.

"We're going to continue to work with our legislative partners to try and get funding for it, but we're going to have to build capacity and industry's gonna have to step up," he said. "They're going to be the beneficiaries."

Businesses will have skin in the game about what they need to do to get their workforce, Little said.

"We are confident that the quality of the product coming in and going out is going to be such that business is going to see it's a good investment to partner with the state and workforce development or private training facilities," he said.

Post Falls High School senior Kelsey Nelson attended the press conference. She is hopeful her pending application goes through as she prepares to start her higher education at North Idaho College.

"It relieves a lot of stress," she said. "It gives me more peace of mind that I won't have to pay as much and I won't be in debt as much as my brother might have been, since he went through NIC also. My saving habits aren't the best, so having that backup would be really helpful."

NIC President Nick Swayne said this is an amazing opportunity for high school seniors, and if they use their LAUNCH grants to come to NIC, their dollars will go further.

"NIC is less than half the cost of Idaho public four-year institutions,” Swayne said. “For students looking to get the most out of their state scholarship money, they should first take advantage of the high school dual-credit advanced opportunities funding. After high school graduation, come to NIC with Idaho LAUNCH dollars. Once you complete NIC, transfer to a four-year Idaho institution with the Opportunity Scholarship.”

Assuming current tuition rates, he gave this example.

"One year of regular tuition at 15 credits a semester costs over $10,000 at an Idaho university," he said. "This means a student attending a university will be out of LAUNCH funding in only two semesters and will pay over $2,000 out of pocket for just one year. Alternatively, one year of tuition for NIC is $4,245, which means your LAUNCH funding will last for two years and for two semesters you will only pay $849.

“There’s also what’s being called ‘adult LAUNCH,’ which is available to all workers in Idaho regardless of their financial situation," he added. "We’ve created a website that has information for both types of LAUNCH at nic.edu/niclaunch.”

    Alycia Cameron, a Timberlake High School senior, speaks at an Idaho LAUNCH press conference Thursday. Also pictured: Lt. Gov. Scott Bedke.