With many Rhode Islanders either worrying that their manufacturing jobs may
be sent overseas and increasing numbers actually dealing with the loss of their
livelihood, a new $3-million federal grant will help secure a transition for
hundreds into the biomanufacturing field.
A partnership between the Workforce Partnership of Greater Rhode Island and the Rhode Island Technology Council secured the grant last month through the U.S. Department of Labor. Along with matching funds from private companies like Amgen and Dow, the grant will result in more than $5 million for the training of up to 600 workers over the next three years. The work force partnership is one of two federal Workforce Investment Boards in Rhode Island (the other is the Workforce Solutions of Providence-Cranston), eligible to receive funding under the Workforce Investment Act. The technology council will serve as program manager for the grant.
The biomanufacturing industry has been targeted, by both the Rhode Island Economic Development Corporation and Gov. Don Carcieri, as having the potential to play a key role in the state economy. As traditional manufacturing plants continue to be shut down and the trend continues to outsourcing work to access cheaper labor overseas, biomanufacturing appears to be an area where significant growth is possible.
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“This is good news for our efforts to create the educated work force Rhode Island needs to attract biotechnology companies, to grow our economy and to create new jobs,” said Carcieri in a release announcing the grant. In 2003, the governor announced plans to construct a biotechnology lab and new biotech training center at URI to help provide the skills necessary to residents.
“This is a growing industry in Rhode Island,” said Dottie Miller, a project manager at the work force partnership who worked on writing the original grant proposal, adding that the proposal was a joint effort of the technology council, the governor’s office, Amgen and Dow. “The funds will really target the high-tech jobs in an area where companies usually have to look to import visas to bring in the talent to do these jobs.”
Miller said her group has already heard from a few possible participants and the partnership is setting up a contact file for people who are interested in the program. Beginning in January the official recruiting of participants will happen over the course of six to eight weeks, focusing on people who’ve been laid off from traditional manufacturing work, but don’t want to leave their Rhode Island homes to find new employment.
Although the majority of the funding will be used to upgrade the skills of current workers, Miller said a portion of the grant would be directed to the existing training program for the biotechnology and bio-manufacturing fields at the University of Rhode Island. The university’s program allows students to enter a one-year course followed by a 12-week internship and employment program. From there, a student can elect to either continue at URI and earn their four-year degree, or enroll at any other school with complementary courses and complete a certificate program or bachelor’s degree.
Even for re-training, Miller said URI will likely play a part in offering a mix of classroom and hands-on educational training that will be tailored to the particulars of a job and a person’s experience. Once participants are selected, an advisory team from the grant’s corporate partners will identify the training needs and issue a request for proposals to find the best source – be it academic institutions or corporate training vendors – for re-training. Miller said that depending on the interests or experience of the “transitioning or displaced workers,” who have either a strong manufacturing background or science-based education, participants could either find themselves in a classroom at URI, or be placed in a series of short-term training seminars on-site.
Miller said the program should provide a boost to the state’s economy, and also said it could be among the last of its kind as the federal budget begins to deal with its deficits. Funding for the program is possible through the U.S. Department of Labor’s H-1B training grants, which specifically focus on bio-manufacturing.
The program is designed to prepare Americans for occupations in which there are skill shortages and is funded by fees paid by employers to bring highly skilled workers into the country under a visa program.
For more information about the program, the workforce partnership can be contacted
at 222-2090.
