Rep. Courtney to host EWIB President John Beauregard as his State of the Union Guest
NORWICH, CT – Today, Congressman Joe Courtney (CT-02) announced that he will host John Beauregard, President and CEO of the Eastern Connecticut Workforce Investment Board (EWIB), as his guest of honor for President Trump's State of the Union address on Tuesday, February 4th. Beauregard was instrumental in crafting and implementing the EWIB Manufacturing Pipeline Initiative (MPI), the award-winning jobs skills training program that has been recognized by the U.S. Department of Labor as having far exceeded its job placement and skills training goals, and as a model for similar programs nationwide.
"There's a boatload of activity at hand and on the horizon for eastern Connecticut's manufacturing sector," said Congressman Courtney. "Thousands of new manufacturing careers are going to become available in our region over the next few years, and it's because of the visionary work of folks like John Beauregard – who was instrumental in crafting the MPI – that we know eastern Connecticut will really be able to take full advantage of the uptick in workload with a workforce that's well-educated, skilled, and ready to tackle these new opportunities as they come online. John's work to turn the MPI into program to be modeled after nationwide has been a total success. I'm proud to host him in Washington as my guest for the State of the Union, and look forward to collaborating with him on more ways keep preparing our workforce for the exciting opportunities ahead."
"We've come a long way from 2016, when the MPI was just one of six such programs to receive federal funding across the entire country," said John Beauregard. "Now, in 2020, we're pleased to have been recognized by the U.S. Department of Labor as program that has outstripped predictions of success in practically every category – we've gone on to place over 1,500 people in positions of gainful employment, some of whom had no prior experience in manufacturing before joining the MPI. Our success is thanks in large part to the unity of purpose among our numerous stakeholders, and to the tireless advocacy from folks like Congressman Joe Courtney, who was instrumental in helping us secure that first $6 million federal grant to get the MPI up and running. I'm grateful for this chance to watch the State of the Union as Congressman Courtney's guest, and for all of his efforts to ensure that Connecticut's manufacturing workforce and workload are trending in the right direction."
Connecticut's MPI program was launched via a $6 million Workforce Innovation Fund (WIF) grant through a national competitive procurement by the U.S. Department of Labor. In September 2019, the MPI was received an official Federal Evaluation by an Independent Program Evaluator from the U.S. Department of Labor, who cited the 2nd District job training initiative as having far exceeded its performance goals for job placements and skills training. The purpose of the Federal Evaluation was to focus on the WIF grant, which triggered the launch of the "Pipeline" that has gone on to place 1,512 individuals in positions of gainful employment by leveraging numerous sources of funding. The PPA report also highlighted that the MPI program success applied to all demographics of the workforce, including those without formal manufacturing experience prior to joining the program. Click here to view Rep. Courtney's press release detailing the report summary.
The MPI is operated by Eastern Connecticut Workforce Investment Board (EWIB) in coordination with thirty other state and regional stakeholders.
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