CCRI will provide customized training programs
The Community College of Rhode Island has opened its new Training and Technology Center in Quonset, which will provide area businesses with customized training programs for their specific needs. The center is the first of its kind in the state.
“Most other places, whether it be high schools or colleges, are in the business for a pre-employed population; students are going through there on a repetitive basis,” said Thomas D. Sepe, president of CCRI. “This is a short-term intensive training center. We’re here to train people for jobs quickly and efficiently and I think it’s a niche that will work for us.”
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Located in an old manufacturing facility in the Quonset Davisville Port & Commerce Park, the center offers customized training for industries like construction, IT and boat building. The 10,000-square-foot center has state-of-the-art computer technology labs, multi-functional training rooms, a welding shop, a lean manufacturing cell and a 1,500-square-foot multi-purpose space.
“You have to look at your competitive advantage. It’s one thing to say that the sailing is great in Rhode Island, but it’s another to say we have highly trained, highly skilled and highly competitive workers,” said Michael McMahon, director of the Rhode Island Economic Development Corporation.
CCRI, which has been working in Quonset with Electric Boat on similar training for a few years, has been cultivating the center and its programs for two years, Sepe said. The CCRI staff had said it was becoming difficult to do training in different locations because of the high demand, and Sepe decided the program needed its own space.
“We see the need to help companies continue to train their employees to make them more and more comparable,” he said, adding that there is also a need for more highly skilled workers entering the work force. The training and technology center will satisfy both.
Programs will include lead and asbestos removal, Certified Nursing Assistant (CNA) programs, sales and marketing workshops, health and safety training and commercial driver’s license (CDL) programs. Classes will run Monday through Saturday, from 8 a.m. to 10 p.m., with possible third-shift options.
McMahon said that as the landlord of Quonset, the EDC sees the center as adding to the value of Quonset. “Work force development next door to or right where you work is even more effective,” he added.
The CCRI Training and Technology Center is overseen by the college’s Division for Lifelong Learning. The college did not seek or receive state funding to finance the $318,000 it cost to renovate the facility. Sepe said CCRI has a business plan that sees it repaying the annual operating and renovation costs within the first five years the center is running. CCRI has a five-year lease with the owner, with the option of renewal at the end of the term, Sepe said.
While the center will cater to the businesses in Washington County and in the Quonset park, Sepe said the courses are open to any business in the state.
Sepe said that an advisory committee would also be formed to address the needs of the businesses in the area, as well as provide the college with feedback directly from the businesses receiving training.
Based on that feedback, Sepe said the center would continuously tailor its courses and training to the needs and demands of the business community. There is a per head/per course fee for the standard courses, as well as contracted training, in which CCRI will develop a specialized course for a business that might not fit into the other courses. That will cost a bit more, Sepe said, because CCRI will have to develop a specific curriculum for that course and recruit instructors and advisors.
“We’re willing to do anything; whatever they need,” he said. “This is not going to be a nine to five business.”
Sepe said he sees the CCRI Training and Technology Center as a way for Rhode Island to improve its work force and economy. It could attract important businesses, while providing them with well-trained employees.
“The governor sees us growing out of our economic problems, and in the longer run we’ll be growing our business and that means growing the tax base, and we’re part of that,” he said.
“Oftentimes you can’t predict what a company down the road a year later will need, but if we know a company is locating here, it’s to our advantage to attract them in the first place. We’ll be like bait, and have the training and provide them with qualified employees.”
CAS America, an East Greenwich-based cabinetry manufacturer, formed a partnership with CCRI, the Rhode Island Manufacturer’s Extension Services (RIMES) and General Dynamics more than a year ago to change the educational and training standards of its employees that has served as a pilot for the center.
Joseph Cannon Jr., president of CAS America, said he currently has 10 of his 12 employees enrolled in the CCRI program.
“I want to take that 25 percent (of Rhode Islanders who have college degrees) and look ahead to a time when we can have 50 percent with degrees,” said Cannon.
“It raises the standards of all the people in Rhode Island. If you have a
degree then you make more money, and you’re contributing more and it increases
productivity.”
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