Last of former Torrington Co. taken down
SLOAN BREWSTER
TORRINGTON – Demolition of the former Torrington Co. is
complete.
Saturday marked the official end to demo, Glenn Carbone,
operations manager for the property’s owner IRG Realty Advisors, said Monday.
“All the buildings have come down at this point,” he said.
One wall from what Carbone referred to as Building 1, a
six-story unit that stood on Prospect Street, remains intact and likely will
not come down. The wall is fixed to the adjoining building at 689 Prospect St.,
which houses Silgan Dispensing and was not razed. While plans last month were
to protect Silgan’s building and remove the wall, Carbone said the scope of the
project changed after crews started razing the six-story building.
He said he will be meeting with someone this week to discuss
options for the wall.
“We may just leave it and cover it,” he said. “Why disturb
something if it’s water tight and air tight?”
Demolition began on Oct. 15 of last year. Carbone said. In
total, crews from Manafort Brothers Inc. of Plainville took down 26 buildings,
totaling approximately 600,000 square feet.
Nothing unexpected happened during the project, there were
no unusual findings and no one was injured, Carbone said, noting the project is
about four weeks ahead of schedule.
“I want to knock on wood; it went surprisingly smooth,” he
said. “A lot of things can go sideways on these jobs. Manafort worked very
solidly.”
A cornerstone on one of the buildings that came down
indicated it was built in 1912, Carbone said during a tour of the demo site in
March.
In its heyday, the company, which included two divisions –
Excelsior Needle and Standard Spoke Nipple – that were combined into the
Torrington Co., comprised one of the most important industries in Torrington in
terms of employment, gross revenue, taxes paid, factories in Torrington as well
as factories nationwide and worldwide, Mark McEachern, executive director of
the Torrington Historical Society has said.
The company was known for its manufacture of needle and
other bearings.
According to John ‘Lucky’ Luciano and Jeff Rossi, longtime
friends who met working at the manufacturer, bearings from the manufacturer
were used in submarines, on bridges, including the Golden Gate Bridge in San
Francisco and myriad other things.
Luciano, who worked at the plant from 1968 to 2007, said he
made bearings for a Mars Exploration Rover.
On Monday he said he was neither thankful the plant was gone
nor sad about it as the buildings sat unused for 18 years and most of the
former employees have retired or moved on to new jobs.
“If it had gone down a year or two after I left there I
would say wow, that’s my livelihood, it’e gone,” he said.
Carmella Lopardo, a 1949 graduate of Torrington High School,
worked at the company for two years when she was in high school. She left the
job when she was 18 and entering nursing school at Saint Mary’s in Waterbury.
She said her brothers and sisters worked there before her and got her the job.
A family-oriented company, once a family member was hired
and well-established as an employee the company would take on relatives,
Carmella said.
“I got tears in my eyes thinking they are leaving us,” she
said. “All the factories here are gone.”
When she drives by and sees piles of debris where once stood
buildings she said she recalls her time there.
“I think of myself growing up and the chance they gave me…I
mean they helped pay for my education,” she said. “I think they helped a lot of
families to get on their feet.”
Demolition was funded by a $2 million grant from the
Connecticut Department of Economic and Community Development Office of
Brownfield Remediation and Development, said Torrington’s Community Development
Coordinator Richard Lopez.
The site is considered a brownfield because of asbestos,
Carbone said.
Cleanup of the remaining materials on the site will take
about month, he said, noting that Manafort will be there for about three more
weeks clearing out concrete, metal and brick and salvaging wood.
Once the site is cleaned up IRG will begin considering
redevelopment, Carbone said, noting that the property will show better once it
cleaned.
Possible ideas include getting another grant, leasing or
selling the property.
“There’s a million options on the table; we don’t know
exactly,” he said. “It’s just so early in the process. We don’t know.”
Waterbury still seeking Anamet developer
LIVI STANFORD
WATERBURY – City officials said they hope their third
request for proposals for a developer to revitalize the former Anamet factory
site at 698 South Main St. will draw prospective developers, with one
ultimately investing in the project.
“We have been continuing to have conversations with folks
that have shown interest,” said Tommy Hyde, executive director of the Waterbury
Development Corp. “I think we are going to get more bids this time.”
City officials sent out the RFP on July 8 and so far, the
responses have been favorable, Hyde said.
Hyde said city officials are more optimistic about this RFP
because they are addressing some of the things previous and current bidders
want to see including spending $1.5 million from state funding to clean up the
contaminants where the powerhouse once stood; potentially demolishing one of
the administrative buildings on the site and specifying details concerning the
water and drainage system at the site.
Hyde said city officials are open to multiple uses for the
property, including manufacturing and transportation logistics.
Anamet, a 17-acre brownfield site, including a
180,000-square-foot High Bay building, is crucial to revitalizing the South
End, Hyde said.
Hyde said the building has remained vacant for 30 years and
that its redevelopment along with 835 S. Main St., the remains of the former
Waterbury Button factory, which the city is moving closer to remediating, and
the expansion of the Brass City Harvest known as the food hub at 777 South Main
St. are significant investments for the city’s South End.
Mayor Paul K. Pernerewski Jr. said the cleanup of
contaminants including PCBs where the powerhouse once stood will help make a
difference in attracting interest to the site, which he said the redevelopment
will help create jobs and spur economic development.
The city has sought a developer for the site for several
years.
In September 2023, city officials terminated negotiations
with Ideal Fish concerning Anamet after expressing concerns that negotiations
were not progressing the way they had hoped.
And then in March, the city rejected two requests for
proposals from Cornerstone Realty and Industrial Realty Group, a Los
Angeles-based developer concerning redevelopment of the site.
Hyde has said that based on what the city invested in the
site and what they hoped to see at the site the developers weren’t the right
fit.
Cornerstone Realty bid $1.8 million on the project, which
was lower than the first time it was put out to bid. In its bid, the company
proposed leasing the space to TorrCo, a distributor of local plumbing, heating,
cooling, and industrial piping products, for a central distribution fulfillment
and logistics processing center.
Industrial Real Estate Group, a Los Angeles-based company
that owns and operates more than 150 major projects and developments in 31
states, proposed building a business park on the property and paying $200,000
annually beginning in year six of the project. It further stipulates that the
company not incur more than $1 million in unreimbursed environmental costs for
assessments and remediation, according to the Request for Proposal.
The Anamet site is owned by 698 South Main St. Inc., which
was set up by the city to hold the property.
The former factory was used for manufacturing from 1812 to
1977 by, in turn, Benedict & Burnham Manufacturing Co., American Brass Co.,
Anaconda American Brass Co., and ARCO.
Last year, the city spent $1.5 million in grant funding to
demolish three buildings, abate the high bay building, map the underground
utilities, and conduct additional site sampling to understand the extent of the
contaminants fully.
To date, $9.5 million has been received for work toward its
rehabilitation, most of which has been spent, Hyde said. It will cost another
estimated $% million to clean up and remediate the site.
Board of Aldermen President Michael DiGiovancarlo said he
also remains hopeful that the city will get a better offer this time around.
Alderman Minority Leader Rubin Rodriguez said that it is
vital for the city to get the right person to redevelop the site.
Hyde said a selection committee will be tasked after Oct. 8
to narrow down the top candidates and give its recommendations to the city.
SENNEBOGEN Names Envimat, Tyler Equipment, TEC Top Dealers
As the SENNEBOGEN Dealer
of the Year for two years running, Vinicius Casselli, director of Envimat,
the SENNEBOGEN dealer in Brazil, said his plan was to make Envimat the top
dealer. And Plan B was to make Plan A work.
Well, it is working as well as he expected. But as he said
recently, "Although SENNEBOGEN material handlers are relatively easy to
sell because of their engineering and overall product quality, their customers
expect their machines to be able to operate 24 hours a day."
To make that happen, he has an army of mobile factory
trained mechanics to do just that.
Award Winners
At a recent ISRI Show, today known as the ReMA Show
(Recycled Materials Association), Constantino Lannes, president of SENNEBOGEN
America, Envimat was once again named Top Dealer in the SENNEBOGEN America
family.
"We are very proud of the accomplishments of all our
dealers. We have the best dealers in the industry," said Lannes.
Brooke Tyler IV, from Tyler
Equipment Company with company offices in Massachusetts and
Connecticut, this year's first runner-up (and the 2022 Tree Care Dealer of the
Year) stated that since SENNEBOGEN machines are purpose-built, he has
technicians and service vehicles that have also been "purpose-built"
with factory training and stocked with UPtime Kits and all the special tools
they might need to service a SENNEBOGEN material handler.
Chad Stracener, from Tractor
& Equipment Company of Alabama, the second runner-up (and the 2023
Tree Care Dealer of the Year) also talked about their service trucks, and
factory-trained technicians that are out there every day meeting the needs of
their customers while continuing to build customer trust and confidence. As
well, he recounted that TEC continues to invest in inventory and an inventory
delivery system that ensures continuous uptime and machine availability.
At the meeting, Tyler and Stracener both agreed with the
sentiment from Casselli: "Our customers know that they are buying the best
product on the market, but in return, they have high expectations for machine
uptime."
They all agreed that as distributors, they take this
responsibility seriously and each of them have invested heavily in parts
inventories and technician training at the SENNEBOGEN Training Center.
They also agreed that a good salesman will sell the first
piece of equipment, but it is the impact of the parts and service people that
keeps them coming back.
Becoming Partners With Our Customers
Envimat, as the company name says, addresses their two main
areas of interest: environment and material handling.
Initially, Envimat was well known in the forestry industry
and made its mark there. However, based on that history, Casselli brought in
steel, scrap and recycling market specialists.
"We hired these individuals because they know the
business of our customers and understand the challenges they face every
day," Casselli said.
"Our sales teams are well versed with the SENNEBOGEN
product line but our specialists bring something new to each situation. We know
what the customers want and we see it as part of our job to be their equipment
partner and help the customer be more profitable. They can do that when we have
earned their trust and we work with them to choose the right machines with the
right attachment for their operations and applications."
Casselli went on to say that some of his best salespeople
are his customers. When asking one of his customers if he can bring in someone
to see their SENNEBOGEN working in their yard, they always say, "Yes, of
course. But you're not allowed to come. Stay home. We'll have a good
conversation," and they do. He says they tell them all about the machines
but most importantly, they tell them about our service fleet, parts inventory
and our factory trained mechanics.
"We're very proud of our relationship with our
customers. We are also very excited that we are bringing five customer
technicians this fall to the SENNEBOGEN Training Center for free factory
training that will be done in Spanish."
What the Customers Like
One of the things that his customers really like is the
simplicity of the SENNEBOGEN material handlers. The off-the-shelf componentry
as well as the fact that they are hydraulic over hydraulics versus machines
that use proprietary parts and are electronic over hydraulics. That
combination, in the environment that they work in, makes them much more prone
to failure and downtime due to the electronic componentry that controls the
machines, the company said.
Casselli added that the success of Envimat is also due to
the support it gets from SENNEBOGEN America and its president, Constantino
Lannes. He said the SENNEBOGEN team is there every month and works with new
customers to maximize their investment.
"Constantino is also here regularly, and we are working
with him all the time. He is so knowledgeable. Our customers love to talk with
him especially as he speaks their business language but is also fluent in
Portuguese and Spanish."
When asked if he felt that a "Threepeat" was
possible for next year, he indicated that he had a great deal of respect for
the other dealers across North America but he will continue to work Plan B to
make sure Plan A is successful!
For more information, visit www.sennebogen-na.com.
CRDA cancels vote on $145M XL Center renovation plan amid GOP concerns
The Capital Region Development Authority postponed a key
Tuesday vote on a $145 million renovation of Hartford’s downtown XL Center
arena, after Republican legislative leaders questioned the involvement of an
entertainment group tied up in a separate state lawsuit.
The CRDA has a tentative agreement with Los Angeles-based
live entertainment promoter and venue manager OVG360 to contribute $20 million
toward the pending renovation.
In return, OVG, which is under contract to manage the XL
Center for another year, would get its contract extended another 20 years from
the completion of the upgrades to Hartford’s roughly 16,000-seat sports and
entertainment arena.
As part of the agreement, OVG would also keep the first $4
million in annual XL Center profits. Additional profits would be split with
CRDA for upkeep of the venue.
On Monday, state House Republican Leader Vincent Candelora
and House Republican Leader Stephen Harding sent a letter to Attorney General
William Tong questioning the deal. Candelora and Harding’s letter notes
the state has joined a Department of Justice antitrust lawsuit against Live
Nation and Ticketmaster, the latter of which has a close relationship with OVG.
The GOP letter notes concerns raised in a recent New York
Times piece that highlights OVG’s relationship with Ticketmaster and Live
Nation. They also note Tong’s own lawsuit raising concerns OVG facilitated a
lack of competition between Ticketmaster and Live Nation “using Ticketmaster as
its own ticketing property and colluding on what business it pursued.”
“By advocating for Ticketmaster and excluding rival
ticketers, OVG is alleged to have effectively reduced competition, limiting
opportunities for other companies to challenge Ticketmaster’s market position,”
the GOP letter states.
CRDA Executive Director Michael Freimuth said Tuesday that
the quasi-public agency’s meeting had been postponed in “deference” to the
concerns raised by Candelora and Harding. Freimuth said he anticipates some
feedback from the AG’s office.
He said the OVG/Ticketmaster concern had been raised by CRDA
board members previously.
“The (CRDA) board has the same questions Candelora is
raising: how do we proceed?,” Freimuth said.
The attorney general’s office did not immediately respond to
an email seeking comment.
State Rep. Vincent Candelora (R-East Haven) said Republicans
"have no interest" in getting in the way of CRDA's oversight of
XL Center renovations but are concerned about how Tong's lawsuit could
impact the venue's future contracts.
"We need the Attorney General to reconcile the
antitrust lawsuit that he has filed against Ticketmaster, which could implicate
this contract with the CRDA is entering into," Candelora said. "I'm
just concerned that the Attorney General is going in a direction that could be
in conflict with What is in the best interest of the CRDA."
OVG’s contract with Ticketmaster at the XL expires in one
year, and a clause in the tentative agreement with OVG requires that service be
rebid when the current contract expires, Freimuth noted. It also gives CRDA
veto power over any ticket vendor OVG might select, he said.
Freimuth is hoping to hash through the newly highlighted
concerns in time for a CRDA vote early next week, in order to keep the XL
renovation on track. Construction bids expire in August, and any delay risks
throwing off a construction schedule carefully balanced around the arena’s
schedule, he said.
In addition to the CRDA board, the $145 million deal
requires approvals from Tong, the state Office of Policy and Management and
state Bond Commission. CRDA has requested a Bond Commission meeting to approve
the funding in early August.
Efforts to revitalize Hartford’s XL Center received a
boost in May after the state legislature’s passage of a $370 million budget
stabilization plan.
The bill increased the maximum amount of funding from $80
million to $125 million that the state and CRDA can contribute to an XL Center
renovation.
That potential $45 million increase in funding came just
weeks after bids for a $107 million XL Center renovation plan came in nearly
$40 million over budget.
Construction of 500 apartments at Fort Trumbull still a go
John Penney
New London ― There’s been little construction on the Fort
Trumbull peninsula this year despite projects planned for all the parcels.
But the promised sale of two city-owned properties this fall
is expected to set the stage for the construction of 500 new apartments on the
long-vacant land.
The City Council on Monday night met in executive session
with Renaissance City Development Association and city officials to discuss the
“potential sale of certain real properties” within the Fort Trumbull Municipal
Development Plan, namely the 1A and 3C plots.
Council members left the closed-door session without acting
or commenting on their discussions, and attendees declined to comment on the
matter, citing public meeting exemptions regarding potential property deals.
The RCDA, the city’s development arm, brokered a development
agreement in 2023 that includes selling two parcels totaling 6.28 acres to RJ
Development + Advisors for $500,000.
The agreement contained terms that required the development
company, which built the 200-unit Beams apartment complex on Howard Street, to
obtain state and local permits for the construction of a pair of apartment
buildings, each containing 250 units, on land located on Nameaug and Walbach
streets.
RCDA Executive Director Peter Davis on Tuesday said the
agreement, typical in such real estate conveyances, also provided time for RJDA
to inspect the property to identify any potential environmental issues.
“That (2023) agreement wasn’t a sale document, but I expect
the property sales to be finalized in late September or early October,” Davis
said. “We fully anticipate this project will happen.”
RJ Development in September secured site plan and special permitting approval for
the market-rate apartment buildings from the Planning and Zoning Commission,
which also approved similar plans for the construction of a six-story parking
garage at 26 East St.
Jason Rudnick, a founding principal of RJ Development,
declined to comment on the apartment project on Tuesday.
Felix Reyes, the city’s director of planning and economic
development, said the development agreement essentially “kick starts” the
inspection process ahead of a sales closing.
“It’s a contractual document and there’s no been no mention
of changing the sale price,” Reyes said. “These are 500 apartments, and that
means 500 people using our gas stations, registering their cars and eating in
restaurants here.”
Tentative plans called for the Nameaug phase of apartment
construction to begin this year and work on the Walbach building to start in
2026.
Hotel, residential project stalled
A separate development project in Fort Trumbull approved
2/12 years ago has yet to begin construction.
The Massachusetts-based Optimus Construction Management,
which specializes in senior living facilities, bought 4 acres of city-owned
land in February 2022 for $750,000.
The company pitched a plan to build a 104-unit apartment
complex and an extended-stay hotel on the northeast end of the peninsula near
the Fort Trumbull Riverwalk.
Davis said he spoke with Optimus principals about a month
ago and was told the company was attempting to negotiate a deal with a
“boutique hotel chain,” though he wasn’t aware of how those talks ended.
“There’s not a lot of activity on the residential side of
the project,” he said.
The only substantive work on the peninsula now is the
ongoing construction of a $40 million city recreation center.
Several parcels on the peninsula have been vacant for almost
20 years, the result of a controversial demolition and development push by the
former New London Development Corp. that led to the landmark 2005 U.S. Supreme
Court eminent domain decision, Kelo v. New London.
CT town receives $1.5 million in funding for historical bridge project
BERLIN— The town has received funding from the state
Department of Transportation to complete a bridge project that has been a long
time in the making.
The town was awarded $1,569,480 through the state's Local Bridge Program to
replace the entire bridge on Spruce Brook Road over Spruce Brook. Work will be
done on either side of the bridge to conform to current standards regarding
items such as guard rails and signage.
The approximate cost of the project is $3.1 million. The cost includes engineering fees, construction engineering, construction costs, utility relocation, and a contingency of 10 percent of the construction cost.
The design documents, specifications and other details have
been drawn up. Director of Public Works Michael S. Ahern anticipates the
town will go out to bid this winter and construction will begin next
year.
“We're very happy because we got the commitment to fund
relatively quickly after we reapplied,” Ahern said. “The DOT has been
fantastic as far as processing our application, guiding us along the way and
then getting us the funding commitment.”
Durham-Middlefield Push for New Referendum to Approve School Renovations, Closures
Emilia Otte
DURHAM/MIDDLEFIELD — The Board of Education wants to take
another swing at a narrowly failed referendum to close two schools and renovate
a third, with members saying they think better communication with the community
could edge the plans over the finish line.
A June referendum that would have allowed the district to
close Lyman and Brewster Elementary schools and convert Memorial School into a
pre-K through grade five school was rejected by a narrow margin. The
measure, which would have required a change to the Regional Charter, needed
to pass with a majority in both towns.
Durham voters approved the change 471 to 381, but the vote
failed in Middlefield, with 215 voters against and 195 in favor.
At a July 10 meeting, Board of Education Chair Lindsay
Dalheimer said she wanted to hold a second referendum toward the end of August,
in the hope that additional communication with the community would shift the
vote in favor of the project.
“If we can get this through this year, we can save a year
moving forward,” board member Bob Moore said.
According to feedback received by the board over the past
month, a major concern from the community was the plan to temporarily relocate
fifth-graders to Strong Middle School during Memorial’s two-year renovation. In
particular, respondents said they were worried about having fifth-graders share
buses with older students.
At the meeting, board member Tina Hurlbert explained that
the fifth-graders would get a 30-minute daily recess and that their classrooms
would be located in a separate wing of the building. The board is also looking
into providing additional supervision in the hallways during class changes.
Separate bus routes are also being considered for Strong and Coginchaug
Regional High School, Dalheimer said.
Dalheimer added that class sizes would remain in line with
the board’s guidelines.
Parents also expressed concerns about the lack of community
input, and raised questions regarding the project’s cost and the potential
negative impact of additional taxes on older residents.
The project is expected to cost just over $76 million, with
nearly half funded by the state. The total cost to the two towns would be $39
million.
According to school budget projections — without the
Memorial school renovation project and the closure of the two schools — the
district budget would be roughly $3 million higher because of needed building
repairs and maintenance.
Moore noted that the board had reviewed 14 different options
to renovate or reconfigure the schools before settling on this one.
“My sense is that this is a really cost-effective option for
us to pursue,” he said.
Without the proposed project, the schools would need an
estimated $25 million in repairs, including replacements of boilers and roofs,
Moore added.
Finance Director Kim Neubig informed the board that if the
bond to renovate Memorial was approved, the owner of an average home in Durham
(valued at about $400,000) would see an annual tax increase of approximately
$43 over five years, peaking at $280 in 2026-27. In Middlefield, the owner of
an average home (valued at about $350,000) would experience an annual tax
increase of about $29 over five years, with the highest increase being $188 in
2026-27.
In contrast, if the towns kept all five schools open along
with bonding $25 million for necessary repairs, the owner of an average home in
Durham would see their taxes increase an average of $368 annually over five
years, with the highest increase of $550 in 2028-29. In Middlefield, the owner
of an average home would see an average annual tax increase of $248 over five
years, with the highest increase of $370 in 2028-29.
Dalheimer said the negative tax implications of repairing
the buildings would only get worse as time went on.
“The longer we wait, the more money goes up. … The longer we
wait, the less attractive those buildings are to possible lease or buys,” she
said. “If we don’t start looking at the numbers and don’t start looking at the
state of these buildings and do something, it’s not going to be good for
[Regional School District] 13.”
She also noted that the Building Committee was “incredibly
fiscally responsible” and had successfully kept project costs down in the
past.
“They’re not going to run away with money and costs,” she
said.
A flier that the district created to inform parents about
the project noted that a single K-5 school would ensure all students were
getting the same curriculum and would have access to the same extracurriculars
and other resources.
“Teachers can collaborate more easily with their grade-level
colleagues, sharing resources, teaching strategies, assessments and best
practices,” the sheet read. “Students and families build long-term
relationships with the school staff, fostering a strong sense of community and
belonging.”
Dalheimer said the former Brewster Elementary School
building could be leased, possibly to a magnet or charter school.
Community members who spoke during a public comment session
last week had mixed responses. Durham resident Mike Czarkowski said he
disagreed with holding a second referendum so close to the first, particularly
in the summer when parents may not be able to attend public information
sessions.
He also criticized the new grade-level
configurations the district approved last fall, which will temporarily
place all pre-K and kindergartners at Brewster Elementary School, second- and
third-graders at Lyman Elementary, and fourth- and fifth-graders at Memorial
Elementary. The district had already voted to eliminate school choice for
kindergartners.
“If anything, reconfiguration should have come after we had
approved [the renovation of] Memorial, and we should have gotten parents on
board [with the] Memorial [renovation] before we configure this situation that
is really, I think, going to be a complete disaster,” he said.
Czarkowski also shared concerns that the Memorial renovation
costs would increase if the builders found something they didn’t expect.
“I don’t want to be stuck with a very expensive renovation
going years and years, millions and millions of dollars over budget, which we
can see in Cromwell and in North Branford,” he said.
But Durham resident Maureen Funk said the situations were
completely different.
“Those other school districts that are having budget
problems … were mostly budgets that were developed and contracted before COVID,
where we know costs just went insane,” said Funk, who identified herself as
working in the construction industry. “The costs projected here are post-COVID.
Commercial construction costs have stabilized for at least the last 18
months.”
Dalheimer also said that finding something unexpected in
Memorial was unlikely, since there had been “significant renovations” on the
building’s systems two or three years ago.
Funk said she thought the new plan was the best option,
noting it had been discussed for a long time.
“The proposed plan … it’s better for students. It’s better
for taxpayers. It’s better for property value,” she said. “Having a brand new,
renovated-as-new school backed up to a state park … is the best thing that
could happen to anybody’s property value.”
On Monday, board members voted to hold a public hearing on July 24, and they also expect to hold an informational forum sometime in August. If the new regional plan is approved next month, Dalheimer said, it might be possible to hold a referendum for the $39 million in bonding in November.
The Biden-Harris administration is expanding the Registered
Apprenticeship program in certain U.S. industries and investing in workforce
development to provide job access to women, people of color, veterans and other
historically marginalized workers, according
to a July 11 announcement from the White House.
As part of the administration’s broader Investing in America
plan, the investments are intended to create training pipelines for in-demand
jobs, regardless of college degree.
“To do that, the Administration launched nine Investing in
America Workforce Hubs across the country that are bringing together unions,
local governments, employers, training providers, schools, community colleges,
and other stakeholders to facilitate partnerships to train and connect workers
to jobs in high-demand sectors,” according to the announcement.
In 2023, the Biden administration launched five workforce
hubs in Augusta, Georgia; Baltimore; Columbus, Ohio; Phoenix; and
Pittsburgh, which expanded pre-apprenticeships and registered
apprenticeships, trained workers and supported community college programs. This
year, four new hubs will start in upstate New York, Michigan, Milwaukee and
Philadelphia.
As part of the July announcement, Philadelphia launched new
efforts to build workforce development pipelines to attract workers. For
instance, the Geographic and Economic Hiring Preference program aims to hire
50% of apprentices and 20% of journeypersons on certain public works projects
from economically disadvantaged neighborhoods across the city, ensuring 200 new
apprenticeships in underserved communities.
Nationwide, new investments in pre-apprenticeship programs
aim to double the number of people moving into registered apprenticeships and
increase apprentice retention rates. The funding is slated to reach communities
across 32 states.
Additional funding will support the Registered
Apprenticeship program, including public-private partnerships across in-demand
fields, such as clean energy, advanced manufacturing, IT and cybersecurity, and
K-12 education.
Although apprenticeships
remain outside the mainstream in the U.S., they’ve received more
attention in recent years, particularly as part of Biden administration
expansions. The apprenticeship programs are intended to serve as another avenue
to fill talent gaps and build pipelines, particularly in industries that don’t
receive high interest from younger workers.
Bottom of Form
However, earlier in 2024, Republican lawmakers told the U.S.
Department of Labor that a proposed
rule about the Registered Apprenticeship program would disincentivize
small businesses from participating. The lawmakers complained about
administrative requirements, including mandatory disclosures and required
adoption of a time-based model for apprenticeship completion.