New Haven, CT
January 25, 2024
Hi everyone!
It's such a pleasure to be here with the one and only Congresswoman DeLauro. Throughout her career, she has fought on behalf of workers to make sure they get the protections they need through enforcement and to make sure they can get access to good jobs. And it's because of her leadership in Congress that we're all here today. So thank you, once again, Congresswoman DeLauro.
I also want to add my thanks to Chancellor Cheng, John Maduko, and other leaders of the CSCU system, as well as the state leaders who are here, including Labor Commissioner Danté Bartolomeo and the Governor, Ned Lamont. And we'll get to hear from both of them in just a moment.
And let me also give a very special shoutout to the current students who are taking part in today's program. I believe that someone's personal story is one of the most special gifts that a person has. So thank you, in advance, for sharing yours with all of us today.
I want to start with an idea that's simple, but profound: Good jobs change lives.
They bring dignity and respect. They sustain families. They build strong communities.
The Biden-Harris administration is Investing in America to strengthen our nation's infrastructure, delivering roads, bridges, high-speed internet, clean air and drinking water, batteries for electric vehicles. And as we do, we're creating good jobs with the power to change lives in communities all across our nation.
Strengthening our workforce system is key to that.
I think of our workforce system as infrastructure, too. It's the roads and bridges that connect people to the good jobs they want and need and employers to the people that they want and need. But just like our physical infrastructure, our workforce system has some cracks. It's got some potholes. It does not reach every community the way that it should. And for too long, far too many people have been left out of the promise of a good job.
Not this time.
In President Biden's America, we are building workforce infrastructure that's as strong as our physical roads and bridges. And we need it to reach all communities.
To do that, we've got to turn traditional workforce programs on their head in favor of what I call "high road training partnerships."
High road training partnerships start—not with the skills-deficiencies of workers—but with actual jobs. This is a job-first approach to workforce development where training doesn't end in a job search. It ends with a good job.
High road training partnerships bring together unions and employers to design training that's tied to good, union jobs that not only support a family but lift up an entire community.
High road training partnerships also prioritize recruiting and retaining workers who have historically been left behind.
And community colleges are vital to this work. They provide onramps for students to get the skills they need for actual jobs that are coming to their area. They build a pipeline of diverse and highly skilled workers to fill open jobs. They help to foster partnerships between unions, state and local governments, nonprofit organizations, the school system, employers, and more to meet local and regional needs in the labor market.
That's what the Strengthening Community Colleges program is all about.
Right here at Gateway—and at community colleges across the state—this grant is helping to increase student retention and the graduation rates of Black and Latino students. And it has a special focus on getting more women, Black and Latino students to complete coursework in Computer Information Systems programs so that they'll be ready for in-demand jobs in IT.
This is how we build "high road training partnerships." And the Biden-Harris administration is doubling down on them all over the country. This is how we build, not just physical infrastructure, but the high road to the middle class. This is how we make sure all workers can get connected to all the good jobs that have the power to truly change lives.
Thank you.