RIF-funded projects tackle economic ills

GLOBAL OUTLOOK: Hope Global CEO Cheryl Merchant says the workforce is the cornerstone of R.I.’s manufacturing industry. Pictured above is Hope Global machine operator Julio Martinez. / PBN PHOTO/NATALJA KENT
GLOBAL OUTLOOK: Hope Global CEO Cheryl Merchant says the workforce is the cornerstone of R.I.’s manufacturing industry. Pictured above is Hope Global machine operator Julio Martinez. / PBN PHOTO/NATALJA KENT

The Rhode Island Foundation has put $630,000 into its belief that intensified collaborations among movers and doers can “Make It Happen” – “It” to include lowering the state’s stubbornly high unemployment rate, raising the household median income and closing education, employment and income gaps across the state.
“We made the funding available to those who will follow through and do something,” Rhode Island Foundation President and CEO Neil D. Steinberg said of financial awards that were expected to be detailed at a media briefing at the organization’s Providence headquarters March 14.
The $630,000 in awards for 12 projects is the response to a September 2012 brainstorming session at the R.I. Convention Center at which more than 300 private-sector and community leaders set out to find innovative ways to set the state firmly on a healthy economic course. They came up with an overarching prescription for the state’s ailments – bold action.
One action earning a $50,000 Make It Happen award is to turn the career spotlight on advanced manufacturing for the shipbuilding and marine industries.
“We’ve been [ringing] the death knell of manufacturing in Rhode Island and elsewhere. Well, manufacturing isn’t dead,” said Steve Kitchin, vice president for corporate education and training at East Greenwich-based New England Institute of Technology. “We need a skilled workforce and at the same time we need resources to attract people to these careers.”
The school’s $50,000 Make It Happen award will be used to attract students to the new Shipbuilding/Marine Advanced Manufacturing Institute, called SAMI, to be launched with a $2.5 million grant from the U.S. Department of Labor awarded NEIT in February, Kitchin said. The program is expected to be in operation by late summer at the school’s Post Road campus in Warwick, and the training is expected to eventually expand to more than one site, Kitchin said.
“With our grants and other resources, we’re going to create a new dynamic that encourages people into these careers,” Kitchin said. Groups especially targeted for training are the unemployed, underemployed and those just entering the workforce.
Another Make It Happen project is geared to boost the wider range of Rhode Island manufacturers.
The Rhode Island Manufacturing Renaissance Project was awarded $60,000 for an in-depth survey of 1,000 manufacturers statewide to evaluate opportunities for expansion and job development and to broaden the in-state supply chain among manufacturers.
“One pledge we’re making is that every one of those manufacturers will get an on-site visit from one of the team,” said Ray Fogarty, director of the Chafee Center for International Business at Bryant University. Those visits are expected to be completed by the end of this year.
“We want to find out how each manufacturer can grow. Do they need capital? Are there supply-chain issues? Do they need market research? Do they want to move into or expand international business?” Fogarty said.
“We’ll have a team made up of people from manufacturing organizations, from chambers of commerce and others who are interested in manufacturing,” Fogarty said. “It’s going to be pretty exciting. It’s not just a report.”
Cumberland-based Hope Global, which specializes in engineered textile services, was the first company to fill out the survey. “I absolutely think Rhode Island has the potential for a manufacturing renaissance,” said Hope Global CEO Cheryl Merchant. “I believe that because of the people. When I first came here from General Motors in Detroit, I went on a tour of the factory. I realized there’s an incredible workforce here. They’re hard-working, and they’re dedicated.” Cited as an example of innovation and success in advanced manufacturing by Fogarty, Hope Global took business – in shoelaces – away from manufacturers in China.
“We’ve engineered shoelaces that got us all of the Redwing China business,” said Merchant.
“And we also sell shoelaces to China for Timberland.”
Continuing innovation is what could make Rhode Island regain strength in its manufacturing sector, Merchant said.
A college and university research collaborative received a $100,000 award. The partnership of 11 colleges and universities will provide economic research to policy leaders. The funding was matched by the R.I. Economic Development Corporation.
Two other $100,000 awards were given, to Emerald Cities Providence and Marketing Rhode Island, respectively. The former would undertake a retrofit of at least five municipal buildings.
The marketing project would highlight strengths and resources to create a positive perception of Rhode Island.
Another sector earning Make It Happen funding is the wide spectrum of design.
DESIGNxRI got a $45,000 grant to expand business in the regional, national and international market for architects, industrial designers, graphic designers and others in the field.
“A hotel developer, for instance, might use a spectrum of designers – an architect, a landscape designer and an interior designer,” said Christine West, an architect with Providence-based Kite Architects. “Our project is to make businesses aware of all the available design talent in Rhode Island.” •

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