PRESS RELEASE
For immediate release For
additional information, contact:
October 26, 2006 Mary
Anne B. Cox, Dir. of Communications
860-244-7605 mcox@commnet.edu
Connecticut Business & Industry Association, in collaboration with
the Connecticut Community Colleges, Receives
to Support Advanced Manufacturing
The U.S. Secretary of Labor has announced that the Connecticut Business & Industry Association (CBIA) has received a High Growth Job Training Initiative grant for Advanced Manufacturing for $1.75 million. The President¡¯s High Growth Job Training Initiative is a strategic effort to prepare workers to take advantage of the new job opportunities in high growth sectors of the American economy. Grant awards of $16.8 million in total were directed to eleven organizations from among 186 national applicants.
The CBIA grant, entitled ¡°The Connecticut-Western Massachusetts Advanced Manufacturing Collaborative¡± relies on the Connecticut Community College System as the key educational partner working with CBIA and manufacturers across the state to create new training and educational programs related to lean manufacturing, computerized machining, and other areas of ¡°next-generation¡± manufacturing. The grant will support the creation of a new certificate program within the Community College System in lean manufacturing and supply-chain management. The grant will also fund development of software simulation programs to train workers in a more cost-efficient manner.
Over the three year grant period, 370 job seekers, dislocated workers, and incumbent workers in 25 companies will be trained. The Community College System faculty will expand expertise and develop curriculum to deliver advanced manufacturing training based on industry requirements. A rapid response infrastructure will be created to assess workplace needs and develop and deliver industry-driven training.
The goals of the grant will be supplemented by significant commitments from a number of key partners with CBIA including the Aerospace Components Manufacturers; the Manufacturers Cluster Initiative; RENEW in Massachusetts; the Connecticut Community College System and its College of Technology and Regional Center for Next Generation Manufacturing; the Eastern Connecticut Workforce Investment Board; Capital Workforce Partners; The Workplace; Regional Employment Board of Hampden County, Inc. of Massachusetts; and the Connecticut Departments of Labor and Economic & Community Development. Partners have committed over $1 million in both cash and in-kind support, and employers are committed to providing training facilities, company trainers, curriculum materials and review of new curriculum, and employee time to participate in training.
Marc S. Herzog, Chancellor of the Connecticut Community Colleges, expressed his appreciation to CBIA, the U.S. Department of Labor and grant partners and his congratulations to the colleges on their success in winning the award of this prestigious and much sought after grant. ¡°The Connecticut Community Colleges look forward to serving as the key educational partner in the advanced manufacturing grant initiative to expand and enhance our support of manufacturing in the State of Connecticut.
CBIA Director of Workforce Development and Training, Judith Resnick, welcomed ¡°the opportunity to engage in partnership with the Community Colleges and key business and industry partners and decision makers to meet the education and training needs of the advanced manufacturing workforce and ensure that Connecticut is positioned to meet the challenges of global competition.¡±