CCRI program to prepare students for utility jobs

PROVIDENCE – The Community College of Rhode Island is launching a new energy-utility certificate program, designed to prepare students for skilled electrical distribution and transmission work.
The program was made possible by a partnership among CCRI, National Grid and the federal government. The U.S. Department of Energy awarded a $745,000 grant toward the program, while National Grid will contribute $100,000. CCRI will put $65,000 toward laboratory renovations.
Officials said utility companies such as National Grid have an immediate and long-term need for workers with this type of training.
An inaugural group of 20 students will begin the full-time, two-semester, 27-credit certificate program this fall.
In the successful Massachusetts program on which CCRI’s is modeled, more than one-third of the program’s graduates found employment with National Grid and the others found similarly high-paying positions. &#8226