With Fairfield County already well into an effort to rethink its work-force training in response to structural changes in its economy, the federal stimulus provided the state an opportunity to do the same at the statewide level in 2009.
While the onset of the recession last year scaled back the private sector”™s investment in training, the cutbacks are not as sharp as might have been feared. On average, U.S. organizations spent 4 percent less on training in 2008, according to a study published in November by the Alexandria, Va.-based American Society for Training & Development.
Connecticut”™s CTWorks Career Centers in southwestern Connecticut have seen nearly a one-third increase in those seeking jobs and training, according to Career Resources Inc., prompting it to move its Derby office last month into larger quarters.
Tallying totals for the federal stimulus impact on training is taxing, given differing classifications of funding grants under varied agencies. As of mid-November, the state had reported receiving $36 million for work-force training and job assistance from the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (ARRA).
That does not include training created under separate ARRA buckets, however ”“ for instance, a $64 million federal commitment in April to expand the state”™s home weatherization program that provides funds to make houses more energy efficient, including $5 million to train workers to perform such work.
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The Workplace Inc., a work-force investment board in Bridgeport, was among the first entities in the nation to create a new training program for workers losing jobs as a result of the housing and credit crisis. The Mortgage Crisis Job Training Program was made available for free to Connecticut families making less than $120,000 annually who were at least two months overdue on their mortgage.
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Under President Joe Carbone, The Workplace was already well along in its efforts to reshape Fairfield County”™s work-force development initiatives, as it led a $5 million project called CT-NY Talent for Growth to work with neighboring Westchester County on ways to better provide area companies a pipeline to better trained and educated workers.
Even as The Workplace developed its programs, Connecticut, New York and New Jersey in February received a $22 million national emergency grant to help tri-state residents laid off from financial firms train for new careers, with Connecticut receiving $2.6 million of the initial $11 million disbursed. The states had the option of applying for additional funding under the program if the need existed.
That same month, Gov. M. Jodi Rell authorized the creation of a Green Collar Jobs Council in Connecticut, pooling expertise from the state departments of labor, environment, economic development and higher education.
As the federal stimulus has taken shape, green jobs have been the focus of new training programs developed in response to the crisis.
Connecticut received just $130,000 of $55 million in “green jobs” grants announced last week by the U.S. Department of Labor, split between The Workplace and Co-opportunity Inc. in Hartford.
In June, however, Connecticut received more than $15 million in federal stimulus funding to expand fuel cell initiatives, help homeowners and businesses reduce energy costs with alternative technologies, improve the efficiency of state-owned buildings and create green-collar jobs to meet the needs of the emerging technologies.
Part of the funding will be used to support efforts by Clean Cities of Southwestern Connecticut to train workers to provide in-home energy audits and subsidize some of those audits.
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Separately, Connecticut, New York, New Jersey and the other New England states are receiving nearly $4 million to create a “green jobs bank” to function as a clearinghouse for careers in emerging environmental technologies, and training and education opportunities.
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Connecticut will lead development of a regional website tracking the group”™s work and furnish online training, working with the JobCentral National Labor Exchange to provide green employment listings.
“Our Green Collar Jobs Council has done the legwork necessary to allow us to respond effectively to funding opportunities such as this stimulus grant,” Rell said. “The state also is aggressively pursuing grants in the areas of renewable and sustainable energy, environmental quality and remediation ”“ all with an eye toward increasing opportunities for green jobs and careers in the state.”
In March, Rell said she would require any state infrastructure projects receiving federal stimulus funding contain a 25 percent “green” component, in part to provide job opportunities for workers with such skills.
