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64 | DOING BUSINESS IN CONNECTICUT | 2019 Klepper-Smith said since the program began, eastern Connecticut has enjoyed sustained economic growth, "mainly due to the expansion in advanced manufacturing and the region's unique ability to find the workforce talent for that sector. The MPI program has provided a clear and dramatic boost to the economy." In fact, two-thirds of Connecticut's manufacturing employment gains since 2015 have come from that region, with job growth there up by 11.3%. Housing has seen an uptick as well. Meanwhile, applicants continue to stream into the program, tempted by the prospect of landing a high-paying manufacturing position after just five weeks of training – and without a student loan. Because the training curriculum and standards are employer-driven, students have high odds of being hired once they graduate, even though almost 80% have had no previous manufacturing experience. Thanks to roughly $10 million in funding from the state and private sources, the original time line for the program has been extended, and the MPI team is now working to get high school students involved through its youth pipeline spin-off, entirely supported by a grant from the Hartford-based Gawlicki Foundation. The opportunities available through the program continue to grow. Over the next few years, Beauregard said, Electric Boat plans to spend more than $800 million on construction projects related to its development of the nation's new Columbia class submarine. "So, obviously, there will be a great need for construction workers," he explained. "Our region is also lucky enough to start working in coordination not only with the City of New London but with the state of Connecticut on an offshore wind farm – we've had a conversation with Orsted [the developer] about how our model could benefit the project, and we're working hand-in-hand with the union. We're at the very early stages of piloting a very similar model in healthcare, which is starting to see some of the similar type of demand issues in terms of replacement workers." The EWIB hopes to see this successful model replicated elsewhere – and in fact, that's already happening. The board shared its methods with its sister workforce development board in New Haven, "and they launched the first class with the same model that we developed here." The EWIB has also been in touch with the New England Board of Higher Education so the program can be implemented throughout New England. In April, federal Department of Labor Secretary Alexander Acosta came to Connecticut to see WPI in action first hand, after being invited by Senator Chris Murphy. Acosta called the pipeline "transformative," adding that it could be used as a model across the country. Klepper-Smith couldn't agree more. "The work being done by the Eastern Connecticut Workforce Investment Board is some of the best cutting-edge work I've seen in terms of promoting manufacturing workforce development in all of my 38 years as an economic consultant," he said. "It's coordinated, it's focused and it's results-oriented. They basically created a template for what manufacturing can be. I give the EWIB a lot of credit." MANUFACTURING Connecticut has thousands of available manufacturing jobs, making it one of the hottest industry sectors in the state. These students are part of the Eastern Connecticut Manufacturing Pipeline Initiative (MPI). [Photo | courtesy Eastern Connecticut Workforce Investment Board ] MANUFACTURING