Issue Position: Vo-Tech, Job Training & Workforce Development

Issue Position

I collaborated with the Yale School of Management and brought people together to produce the CT Workforce Assessment, a study about the strengths and weaknesses of Connecticut's workforce. As part of the assessment, we met with Connecticut's largest employers from the state's key industries: manufacturing, insurance and finance, healthcare and bioscience, green technology, tourism and digital media. We also included the state's core economic and industry boards and research organizations.

In our interviews with thought leaders -- academics, labor leaders & CEOs -- we asked about future skill needs of their industries, strategies to address current and future gaps, and the role of the government, business and labor in moving our state forward.

On the campaign trail, I've seen many examples of educational programs aligning to meet future skill needs of Connecticut industries, ensuring their graduates get good Connecticut jobs, but we must do more and need a coherent strategy.

Six years ago, the city of Waterbury built the Waterbury Career Academy to meet the needs of the community. The vocational technical high school focuses on the health, human services and manufacturing fields, preparing students to go on to pursue a higher education at top-tier colleges and universities, apprenticeship programs or launch their careers. This year, the Vo-Tech high school is graduating its second class and has a 98.5 percent graduation rate.

Like I saw in Waterbury and like I did with the CT Workforce Assessment, I'll keep bringing our employers together with our educational institutions to make sure we understand what employers want, and in turn understand how to keep Connecticut residents competitive for well-paying Connecticut jobs.

That means creating an environment where our people can succeed. That means empowering people with the skills they need to be competitive for the jobs of today and tomorrow. And that's one reason that I was proud to convene the group of business leaders from Travelers, the head of Aetna, the head of Hartford HealthCare, the head of Stanley Black and Decker, and together we helped convince Infosys to build their new training and innovation hub right here in Hartford.

That was the best day I've had in Connecticut in a long time because it means we're investing in our people.

I plan to continue this type of partnership as governor, and I will:

Open coding academies and training bootcamps in the state so that our workers can learn in-demand skills in short, high-intensity, high-quality programs.
Bring our education and business communities together to dramatically expand apprenticeship and pre-apprenticeship programs. I look to South Carolina, Colorado, Tennessee, and Maryland as models, and I believe that the apprenticeship model can work well in a variety of industries as well as in the building trades. State government will take the lead by developing apprenticeship programs for our own state workforce.
Keep encouraging regular discussion among our business community, educational institutions of all levels and organized labor to make sure we understand the needs of the 21st century workforce, and Connecticut residents are competitive for Connecticut jobs.
Investing in and expanding our vocational and agricultural technology high school systems. We should build on the success of places like Massachusetts, where Vo-Tech schools are integrated into the local economy, are in high demand by students, and have high academic outcomes with high college attendance rates.
Promoting private sector engagements in our schools and training programs to teach fundamental professional skills relevant to current job markets.

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