Schools offer training to boost Rhode Island jobs
Posted on July 5, 2016
Through a partnership with General Dynamics Electric Boat, six career and technical schools will be able to offer training to prepare students for careers in marine industries for Rhode Island jobs.
“This initiative represents the active roles Rhode Island, local school systems, and industry are taking to build the educated workforce required to compete and succeed in the 21st century,” Electric Boat President Jeffrey S. Geiger said. “Our participation reflects the importance we place on training, education, and development. This program will benefit our company by providing us with the educated and motivated employees we will require in the coming years. They’ll have the skills and tools they’ll need to perform effectively at their jobs, as well as the means to take on future professional opportunities that offer greater challenges and rewards. We applaud Governor Raimondo, RIDE, and the Department of Labor and Training for their foresight in establishing partnerships with businesses like Electric Boat, which will provide Rhode Island students with the opportunity to develop valuable job skills in high school. We’re excited by the promise this program holds for everyone involved, and we look forward to getting started.”
Coventry High School has had the highest enrollment in the state in career-technical welding programs and has led the way in the transition to a new advanced welding and ship-fitting program, opening this fall with about 30 enrolled students. Electric Boat has agreed to open ship-fitting, machining, and manufacturing programs at six sites this fall – the Chariho, Coventry, Cranston, and Warwick school districts, the Providence Career and Technical Academy, and the William M. Davies, Jr. Career and Technical High School – for a total enrollment over the next two years of about 180 students.
It is anticipated that eventually about 350 students will graduate annually from career-technical programs in marine industries, as the programs expand to all career-technical centers and schools in Rhode Island.
A sector partnership led by Electric Boat, called the Pipelines to Manufacturing Careers in Ship Building, obtained $369,500 in funding through Real Jobs Rhode Island, Governor Raimondo’s central job-training initiative. This was the largest Real Jobs Rhode Island grant awarded. With the funding, and with input from four employer partners and strategic partners, including RIDE, the Community College of Rhode Island, the New England Institute of Technology (Warwick), and Rhode Island College, Electric Boat and the R.I. Department of Labor and Training are embarking on one of the biggest planned hiring efforts in state history – more than 10,000 skilled maritime-manufacturing industry workers over the next 10 years.
