Earlier this year, Gov. Gina M. Raimondo addressed the Newport County Chamber of Commerce and provided some insight into her budget priorities for 2019 and beyond. She pointed to two key areas for investment: education and job training, and in so doing, mentioned that nine out of 10 jobs created since 2010 require a degree or credential beyond high school.
Her stated goal is to develop an “educated workforce” to better compete with other states and regions that are experiencing job growth, and to create a pathway to a better job for Rhode Islanders.
As part of her budget plan for the coming year, Raimondo has unveiled a plan to invest in the “Ocean State WAVE” – an acronym standing for workforce development, advanced industries and innovation, visitor attraction, and enterprise expansion and recruitment. That’s a great investment strategy with a nice acronym. However, the recent decision by Statewide Planning and the R.I. Department of Transportation to delay or cancel funding for numerous projects already underway seems to be directly at odds with this initiative.
One trim cuts more than $37 million from the Transportation Alternatives Program over the next decade. This program funds investments in the types of transportation that [will] ... help students access new learning and training opportunities and help employees without cars get to their jobs.
It also includes funding that directly impacts the creation of training sites for middle and high school students without which the governor’s goal will be much more difficult to achieve. To make matters worse, several of the projects from which funding is being pulled are work-in-progress, projects being undertaken by organizations that were counting on the state to honor its funding commitments. Many of these projects have been successful in leveraging additional funding from other sources, public and private, based on RIDOT’s original commitment.
Should the state be pulling the rug out from under projects … [such as] this?
One such project at risk of being defunded ... is the rehabilitation of the exterior of, and surrounding pedestrian access to, the historic building on the Herreshoff Museum campus in Bristol.
Built in 1860 by Gen. Ambrose Burnside as the headquarters for his rifle manufacturing company, the building, aka “The Burnside Building,” later became the Herreshoff Manufacturing Co. machine shop.
The Burnside Building today houses the Herreshoff Museum Skiff School Boat Building Program, which was developed by the museum in partnership with the Rhode Island Marine Trades Association to provide underserved and at-risk youths an opportunity to learn a trade that creates a pathway to employment in the marine industry, one of the governor’s key economic-growth sectors.
R.I. Commerce Secretary Stefan Pryor said the ... WAVE workforce-development efforts would focus on “industry clusters,” with an emphasis on meeting the needs of employees while providing pathways for [youths] to pursue careers in those fields.
The Rhode Island marine industry comprises more than 5% of the state’s economy, and these employers need qualified workers. RIMTA and the Herreshoff Museum, in partnership with local schools, are helping to train them. If the Ocean State is going to ride the WAVE, shouldn’t all of the state agencies be on board? Should the state be pulling the rug out from under projects and programs [such as] this?
We don’t think so.
Bill Lynn is the president and executive director of the Herreshoff Marine Museum in Bristol.
