A new study shows that eastern Connecticut’s 10-year Manufacturing Pipeline Initiative (MPI) has placed 6,464 people in full-time employment.
The research, conducted by DataCore Partners, says those additional jobs have generated an estimated $549 million in economic impact and supported a further 16,484 jobs in the region.
The MPI was created in 2016 with a $6 million federal Department of Labor grant issued to the Eastern Workforce Investment Board (EWIB), in response to growing demand for skilled workers at Groton shipyard Electric Boat and its local supply chain companies.
Since then, about $58 million in combined federal and state funding has been invested in the MPI initiative, with the state of Connecticut supplying around half of that amount.
The analysis says that equates to approximately $9.47 in economic activity for every $1 invested.
“The numbers demonstrate the significant economic and fiscal impact associated with the Manufacturing Pipeline Initiative,” said Don Klepper-Smith, director of research at DataCore Partners. “In my opinion, the program illustrates EWIB’s skills in choreographing the collective talents of multiple regional organizations to work together.”
Electric Boat announced this year that it intends to hire 8,000 new workers before the end of 2026, an unprecedented hiring push as it ramps up production on the Virginia and Columbia class submarine programs.
“For more than a decade, our partnership with EWIB, training providers, and manufacturers across the region has demonstrated what an employer-driven workforce model can accomplish,” said Mark Rayha, the president of General Dynamics Electric Boat.
Chris Jewell, the president of supply chain manufacturer Collins & Jewell in Bozrah, is also chair of EWIB. He says the employer-centric model, providing training for open positions, is key to the pipeline’s success.
“Most workforce boards work on a supply driven model. They have people that come in that are unemployed and they try to skill them up and find them jobs. This is the inverse of that,” Jewell said. “The bottom line is, if you train people up and they don’t find a job, you’re going to lose credibility.”
Working with the community college and technical high school system, the program provides eligible unemployed and underemployed people with free, short-term training designed to prepare them for entry-level careers in manufacturing.
The pipeline program also helps address additional needs for participants like transportation costs, interview clothing and computer access.
EWIB points to success stories like that of Groton resident Nicola Kennedy, 41, who was recently unemployed, receiving SNAP and HUSKY benefits, and facing financial, transportation and housing barriers.
A mother of four with a high school diploma, Kennedy was struggling to provide enough food for her family and to purchase the required boots and clothing during her three-week training program to be a painter at the shipyard.
The program provided Walmart gift cards and a gas card to help address those immediate barriers. After her training program, Kennedy was able to interview with Electric Boat on September 10.
Kennedy, who has always worked in retail, says her potential hourly earnings will be a huge opportunity.
“I never made anything even close to $20,” she said, “They were saying $23 to $25 just coming out of the classes and walking into the shipyard. That would be my nice little nest egg, paying off some bills and not leaving me strapped paycheck-to-paycheck.”
The structure of the program is widely regarded as the brainchild of then president and CEO of EWIB, John Beauregard, who has remained with the organization as a special advisor.
His successor, EWIB’s interim CEO David Allard says the pipeline operates a rolling admissions process that meets potential candidates where they are.
“A program like the MPI has to be fully accessible at any time to people coming in and out of training,” he said. “A very simple intake model, wraparound supports deeply rooted into the American Job Center and the public workforce system, a strong connection to the employers and short-term training targeted towards immediate careers.”
U.S. Rep. Joe Courtney has championed the program at the federal level. He says its responsiveness to local labor market conditions is what sets it apart from other initiatives.
“They really have set a national model for how these programs are supposed to work,” he said. “This very surgically designed program has been able to deliver people at a clip that clearly surpasses what’s happening in other parts of the country.”
Courtney says because of the success of programs like that in eastern Connecticut, the U.S. Navy is now heavily invested in workforce development and includes that funding in its budget requests.
The state of Connecticut made its first investment in MPI in 2018. At the state level, the program’s biggest champion has been state Sen. Cathy Osten (D-Sprague), who is co-chair of the legislature’s Appropriations Committee.
“The workforce pipeline, in my opinion, is probably one of the most impactful things we’ve done in the last decade, in both the state budget and in eastern Connecticut,” she said.
In the most recent state budget, Osten increased the amount set aside for MPI from $2 million to $6 million. She says convincing some lawmakers to invest money in helping out a well-resourced employer like Electric Boat was sometimes a hard sell, but she believes the multiplier effect is worth the investment.
“We have extended the reach of the manufacturing pipeline to the New Haven area. We’re extending all over the state to work with anybody,” she said.
