Worcester Business Journal

wbjournal.com | May 29, 2023 | Worcester Business Journal 13 Visit bowditch.com for legal insights and analysis BREAK THROUGH WITH BOWDITCH Whether you're reinventing your organization or disrupting your entire industry, rely on a team of attorneys who see the world your way. At Bowditch, we'll help you cra your business and legal strategy and manage the essential details so you can stay focused on your long-term vision. E N E R G Y & S U S T A I N A B I L I T Y F O C U S academies: • Energy Infrastructure Academy, which is designed to prepare work- ready adults from underrepresented backgrounds for entry level to mid-level union roles with National Grid. • Clean Energy Careers Academy, which gives college-age students men- tors from National Grid to help them learn about the energy and utilities field. • Clean Energy Tech Academy, which is for students in high school and voca- tional technical schools and gives them the opportunity to explore energy field careers. • Clean Energy STEM Academy, which introduces middle-school-age students to the energy industry. Not to be outdone, Eversource launched its own partnerships with Utility Workers Union of America and Bunker Hill Community College called the the Electric Power Utility Technol- ogy partnership, which was designed to build a diverse pipeline of technical tal- ent for critical positions in electric oper- ations, and incorporated a gas certificate in a partnership with USW Local 12004 later. e program has 18 spots for more than 200 applicants every year and gives those students classroom education and field training with Eversource crews. In 2022, First Lady Jill Biden visited Bunker Hill to see the program. Aer finishing at QCC with a certif- icate in electrical utility technology in 2021, Dalton was asked if she would be interested in National Grid's Energy In- frastructure Academy. She took on the chance and joined four other students in the program. At QCC, Dalton was supposed to have more hands-on expe- rience with linesman work, but COVID caused disruptions, so this academy from National Grid proved a vital path for Dalton to get experience with the utility company. Dalton is the perfect kind of candi- date for National Grid. She's someone the company is trying to reach with its new initiatives. Not only does she have the kind of education and certificates required, but she's also someone who would have fallen through the cracks in the company's previous recruitment phases. "It's the first time ever in National Grid New England that we've had this kind of focus from a strategic work- force development standpoint," said Amanda Downey, vice president of strategy development and partnerships at National Grid. "We have known, as you can imagine, it's not just Nation- al Grid, but nationally and certainly across Massachusetts: we just don't have enough people of color, enough women in the energy space. And National Grid has decided to do in a very thoughtful and intentional way to build a compre- hensive, sustainable pipeline of diverse talent so that our workforce – not just today or tomorrow, but over the long haul – truly reflects the communities that we serve." e academies are finding talent that is o-overlooked in the workforce or looked down on. It's the people who completed high school but didn't go to or finish college for various reasons. "ere's talent there," Downey said. "In a nutshell, we're building that pipeline so that National Grid, over the long haul, will be able to ensure it has a diverse workforce to transition into that clean energy future." W National Grid crews respond to power outages following this past winter's storms. PHOTO | COURTESY OF NATIONAL GRID

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