(ABC 6 News) – On Tuesday, businesses in Austin got together to talk about workforce challenges in their community.

Employees from across the area got together at the Austin Public Library to learn about how the Minnesota Department of Labor’s “dual training pipeline” can help them address current and future workforce needs.

The goal of the dual training program is to give workers a combination of instruction and on the job training, to help them succeed at their company.

The focus Tuesday was on Mower County as health care, child care, and manufacturing employers discussed the benefits of the program and ways it can be used in their business.

“Taking someone who’s working as an aid in a childcare setting and have them be able to go back to school to become the lead teacher. Those kinds of opportunities are just a great way to be able to utilize the dual training pipeline program,” said Dan Solomon, the manager at the Minnesota Dual Training Pipeline program.

Austin is just one stop along the way for the pipeline program as they will head to other communities, all apart of their workforce community conversation series this fall.

For more information on Minnesota’s dual training pipeline, click here.