Building on the success of the Westerly Education Center, which through industry partnerships (and funding) has helped train more than 1,000 postsecondary students for jobs that had been open but unfilled, the Raimondo administration has proposed building the Northern Rhode Island Higher Education Center in Woonsocket.
While the Westerly center has a heavy focus on shipbuilding, thanks to the involvement of General Dynamics Electric Boat, the Woonsocket business partners, including AAA Northeast, Amica Mutual Insurance Co., CVS Health Corp. and Fidelity Investments Inc., are driving the training curricula to their needs, which include call-center services (including bilingualism), data analytics, information technology and cybersecurity.
All of this sounds like a bang-up idea. Unfortunately, the announcement lacks the detail to generate true excitement.
For instance, while Gov. Gina M. Raimondo has included $4 million in her budget to fund the project, there is no overall project budget, no timeline and no location given. All those details are, for the moment at least, up in the air.
Contrast that promising but vague plan with the quick timeline and success of the Westerly Education Center, which went from plan to operation within 18 months.
The Raimondo administration has made overhauling the state’s job-training approach a priority and it has succeeded in doing so. This latest project is a continuation of the new approach.
Let us hope that being an election year is not going to distract the governor from delivering on this promising program.