During a meeting of the Commonwealth’s Advanced Manufacturing Collaborative (AMC) on Wednesday, the Baker-Polito Administration announced that Massachusetts has been awarded a new $3.2 million grant from the U.S. Department of Defense’s Manufacturing Technology Program (DoD ManTech) to develop a manufacturing technician training program that will serve as a national model. During the meeting, Housing and Economic Development Secretary Mike Kennealy, a co-chair of the AMC, announced the award, known as “MassBridge,” which will develop and test a state-based training and career pathway model for manufacturing technicians that meets the talent needs of the national Manufacturing USA Institutes and their members.
The MassBridge program will boost training opportunities for technicians and better meet the workforce needs of employers. The program’s key deliverable is the development of an integrated, statewide program that will provide a stackable set of training programs that will create connections from existing technician training programs to the skillsets that meet the demands of today’s manufacturing sector. The goal will be to develop a model that can be replicated nationally. The program will work with existing vocational programs, high schools, community colleges, and supporting universities, to connect and engage students to encourage them toward careers in Manufacturing USA technologies.