Cathy Osten

STATE SENATOR

Cathy Osten

DEPUTY PRESIDENT PRO TEMPORE

GETTING RESULTS

December 4, 2018

Senator Osten Lauds Massive Workforce Investments in State Bond Package

HARTFORD — State Senator Cathy Osten (D-Sprague) today praised Connecticut’s investment of nearly $19 million in a variety of apprenticeship, manufacturing supply chain, vocational-technical, emerging technology and other business-friendly workforce investment financing included on the State Bond Commission agenda for next week.

The agenda includes $5 million alone for one of Sen. Osten’s signature pro-jobs legislative accomplishments, the Apprenticeship Connecticut Initiative, which is designed to create workforce pipeline programs and train qualified entry-level residents for jobs with Connecticut-based manufacturers and other employers in state industries that need more workers.

That jobs program and the state bonding to support it will be especially useful in eastern Connecticut, which has seen a 9.1% increase in manufacturing jobs over the past year and whose regional unemployment rate is now lower than the national average.

“For years now my mantra has been the jobs in Connecticut are there, the jobs are growing, and we just need the people, the trained workforce, to fill those jobs,” Sen. Osten said. “That’s what this state bonding does: it puts people in the pipeline to be trained for high-paying, in-demand jobs right here in Connecticut. Big corporate CEOs and small manufacturing owners are begging Connecticut to help put people on their shop floors and fill the orders that are rolling in. That’s what we’re doing. And the best part of these investments is that it keeps young people in the state, buying homes, raising families, and living the American dream right here in Connecticut.”

Next week’s State Bond Commission agenda includes:

  • $5,000,000 as the first installment in the $50 million Apprenticeship Connecticut initiative, which will develop workforce pipeline programs to train qualified entry-level workers for job placement with manufacturers and employers in other industry sectors in the state that are experiencing sustained workforce shortages. The initiative shall include, where practicable, outreach to underserved populations, including youths, to achieve success in the program and support the state’s economic development progress.
  • $5,000,0000 to finance grants-in-aid and loans from the state Department of Economic and Community Development’s Connecticut Manufacturing Innovation Fund to the Connecticut Center for Advanced Technology (CCAT) for research and development to assist the Connecticut Manufacturing Supply Chain initiative.
  • $3,800,000 to finance alterations, improvements and technology equipment at technical education and career schools in Ansonia, Bridgeport, Bristol, Danbury, Danielson, Groton, Hamden, Hartford, Manchester, Meriden, Middletown, Milford, New Britain, Norwich, Stamford, Stratford, Torrington, Waterbury, and Windham.
  • $2,625,000 to finance the advanced manufacturing and emerging technology program for the Connecticut State College and University System.
  • $2,500,000 to provide a grant-in-aid to Trinity College to assist with renovations to establish an Innovation and Entrepreneurship space at One Constitution Plaza in Hartford.

The State Bond Commission is scheduled to meet Tuesday, December 11, 2019 in Room 1-E of the legislative Office Building in Hartford.

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