In Malta, Schumer says U.S. should do more to help community colleges develop high-tech workers

PHOTOGRAPHER: Stephen Williams

The federal government should do more to help community colleges develop high-tech workforce training programs, U.S. Sen. Charles E. Schumer said today.

“Fields driven by nanotechnology are expected to explode over the next few years,” Schumer said.

Indeed, over the next few years GlobalFoundries, General Electric and other Capital Region companies are looking to hire people for new jobs making things like computer chips, industrial batteries, and solar energy and wind power equipment.

Schumer said the proposed Strengthening Employment Clusters to Organize Regional Success Act would provide grants of up to $2.5 million to help community colleges and other schools establish high-tech training programs.

“We have more jobs than most other places. We have the more pleasant problem of making sure our young people have the skill sets needed,” Schumer said during an appearance at Hudson Valley Community College’s TEC-SMART training facility.

TEC-SMART was established last year to provide workforce training in computer chip manufacturing and clean energy technologies.

“This facility really exemplifies what our community colleges are all about. We are engines for workforce development,” said HVCC President Andrew Matonak.

College presidents or other representatives from Schenectady, Fulton-Montgomery, Adirondack and Columbia-Greene community colleges also attended the announcement.

The five colleges are already developing training programs for high-tech jobs, but the federal Department of Labor recently turned down a grant application that would have expanded them.

Schumer said he still supports the grant application, but the SECTORS Act would provide a new source of job training funding.

High-tech manufacturing jobs require specially skills, but not necessarily advanced college degrees, Schumer said. “Most of these jobs can be filled by people with two-year degrees,” he said.