Layne Beatty had a Class B commercial driver’s license and no technical experience.

Robison Oil needed a service technician.

It was a match made in America.

First, Robison hired Beatty as a warehouse worker. Then it put him through technical training and summer classes with Workforce Innovation and Opportunity Act support. And now Beatty’s got a job he loves with a company that has invested in him.

The Westchester-Putnam Workforce Development Board in White Plains, New York, is hoping to inspire more stories like this. The board is encouraging local businesses to take part in government programs that provide funding to help hire and train employees.

Yet, all too often, Robison CEO and Westchester-Putnam workforce board member David Singer says, companies are suspicious of government programs like this, presumably because such arrangements seem too good to be true. 

“Most businesses don’t reach out to the government for help,” Singer says. 

And that, he says, means the government-sponsored training programs are “one of the best kept secrets the country has.”