Enhancing Workforce Development and Postsecondary Education

• Passed a $160.5-million higher education facilities bond on the November 2024 ballot to provide students with the cutting-edge technology and classrooms they need to compete in the 21st-century workforce. The bond offers $87.5 million to build the University of Rhode Island (URI) Life Sciences Building and $73 million to support the Rhode Island College (RIC) Institute for Cybersecurity and Emerging Technologies.
• Established the Hope Scholarship Pilot Program at RIC, a last-dollar tuition and mandatory fee scholarship for in-state students during their third and fourth year at RIC. The Hope Scholarship offers another pathway to quality, affordable postsecondary education to students. The FY 2025 enacted budget accepted Governor McKee’s proposal to extend this program until 2030.
  • In the 2023-2024 academic year, 357 students were eligible for the Hope Scholarship. Of those, 245 received Hope funds. The remaining 112 had enough other financial aid to not need Hope funds. It is projected that there will be between 352-409 Hope Scholars in academic year 2024-2025.

• Signed legislation making the RI Promise Scholarship program permanent. The program provides free tuition to the Community College of Rhode Island (CCRI) for all Rhode Island full- time students who graduated the term before.
• Created the Fresh Start Scholarship at CCRI, providing scholarships to Rhode Island residents who previously attended CCRI and have not yet earned an associate degree.
  • Enrolled 1,400 students in the 2023- 2024 academic year as part of the Fresh Start Scholarship.
• Founded the Institute for Cybersecurity and Emerging Technologies at RIC, providing certificate, bachelor’s, and master’s level courses with a focus on research and developing highly-skilled cybersecurity professionals. As of August 2024, there are nearly 100 declared majors in the program.
• Allocated $2.7 million in FY 2025 to the Real Skills for Youth program, which supports partnerships consisting of schools, youth organizations, employers, and others to develop and implement high-quality, paid, work-based learning activities for high school students and career exploration for our middle-school youth.
• Increased funding by $8 million in FY 2024 for the RI Reconnect program to improve postsecondary degree and credential attainment among underserved, working-age Rhode Islanders. Staff known as Educational Navigators work with adult residents to address barriers to education and workforce training completion and help them navigate changing careers, learning a new trade, or getting on the path to a degree or certificate.
  • Completed the RI Reconnect assessment process for almost 2,000 Rhode Islanders between July 1, 2023 and June 30, 2024.

• Made significant investments in infrastructure across Rhode Island’s public colleges, including $189.1 million for renovations at URI’s Narragansett Bay Campus to grow the blue economy, $65.8 million for CCRI to modernize and renovate academic and student support
• spaces at their four campuses, and $67.7 million for infrastructure modernization at RIC.
• Continued to invest in Building Futures: Building Green Futures program, a pre-apprenticeship program to prepare young adults with the skills and knowledge needed to succeed in registered apprenticeships in green and plant-based industries, construction, and beyond. Upon graduation, participants have the opportunity to seek employment in these industries or participate in Building Futures’ construction pre-apprenticeship program.
• Invested in over 15 new training programs through Real Jobs RI in 2023-2024, covering a diverse range of trades. This sector- based workforce development programming provides targeted education and skills training for workers with the aim of ensuring employers have access to employees with the necessary skills to compete and grow.
• Signed the Apprenticeship Pathways to Earning a Bachelor’s Degree Act into law, which enables an individual to earn credits through apprenticeship that can be applied toward a bachelor’s degree at public higher education institutions.
• Signed the College and Career Success For All Students Act, which aims to enhance student preparedness for postsecondary education and careers. It mandates teacher training and outlines responsibilities for the state board of regents to support this objective.

• Created a Youth Employment Resource page through the Governor’s Workforce Board on the Department of Labor and Training (DLT) website that includes a list of Youth Workforce Innovation and Opportunity Act providers, active Real Skills for Youth trainings, information on child labor laws, and additional resources.
  • The Governor’s Workforce Board also leverages the Career Exploration Equity Grant program to support equitable access to high-quality career exploration opportunities for youth and young adults. The grant provides a 100-percent reimbursement for eligible activities and costs up to $5,000 per calendar year, to K-12 schools and community-based organizations.
    • As of September 2024, 33 grants totaling $112,435 have been awarded to public schools, community-based organizations, and charter schools. These grants support career exploration programs for youth, including STEM activities, field trips to colleges and training facilities, internship opportunities, and more.

• Reached Rhode Island’s lowest unemployment rate on record of 2.6 percent in May and June 2023. Rhode Island recovered all the jobs lost since the February 2020 pandemic peak in December of 2023. In July 2024, the state’s labor force reached its highest level on record, at 592,100. As of November 2024, the state reached a record-high count of 515,000 jobs.
• Implemented 401 Works, an innovative initiative that allowed unemployment recipients to earn more and keep more of their benefits while returning to work part-time. The program, which was implemented to help Rhode Islanders recover from the pandemic, effectively keeps more people connected to the workforce, so they rely less on benefits and exit unemployment faster.
• Hosted more than 117 virtual and in-person job fairs and had more than 8,000 jobseekers attend a job coach session through DLT from July 1, 2023 through June 30, 2024.
• Leveraged the new Non-Trade Apprenticeship Expansion Grant program to support the expansion of Non-Trade/Non-Traditional Registered Apprenticeship Programs (RAPs) that meet the standards of apprenticeship. Since 2023, grants have been awarded to the Rhode Island Institute for Labor Studies to develop apprenticeship program standards for teachers and medical assistants.
• Provided WorkforceInnovation andOpportunity Act (WIOA) services to 355 individuals between June 2023 and June 2024 who self-reported as having a disability.
  • The Workplace Accessibility Grant Program, managed by the Governor’s Workforce Board, promotes employment and economic opportunity for individuals with disabilities through investment in accessible workplaces.
    • Awarded $31,632 to eight employers in 2023 for workplace accessibility projects, including adding a portable wheelchair ramp, countertop modifications, ADA-Compliant Doors, front entrance railings, accessible bathrooms, and ramp installations.
    • Awarded $33,040 to six employers for similar projects as of August 2024.

• Continued the partnership between DLT and the Department of Corrections (DOC) to bring new employment opportunities to adult correctional facilities through one-on-one coaching.
  • Through an on-site job coaching initiative, assisted currently incarcerated participants with career coaching, resume assistance, interview preparation, and connection to wrap-around essential services.
  • Hosted a hiring event where inmates were able to come to DLT and meet virtually with employers while still incarcerated.
  • Recruited fair-chance employers in the manufacturing, transportation, and shipping industries, and supplied the virtual platform, secure laptops, and closed internet access for training. Three participants received on-the-spot post-release offers.
• Partnered with DLT, DOC, and CCRI to provide sector-based in-demand trainings, including an innovative program launched in 2022 to bring advanced manufacturing training to the women’s correctional facility. Participants are trained on on-site CAD machines and earn an OSHA 10 Certificate and a Certified Logistics Technician (CLT) certificate.
  • Successfully launched three program cohorts as of September 2024, totaling 22 participants, of whom 20 successfully completed the program and 10 were placed into jobs upon release.
• Established a partnership between the Department of Environmental Management (DEM) and Skills for RI to form the Rising Environmental Leaders program, bringing high school students into DEM for a summer program to learn about career and professional opportunities in environmental protection and natural resource stewardship.

• Dedicated funding for DLT to establish the Office of Community Engagement (OCE) to lead the agency’s commitment to and strategy for being a more diverse, equitable, and inclusive organization. In 2023, an advisory panel of 25 community- based organizations provided ongoing input on how the state can better serve members of the community. In 2024, the initiative entered its second year of programming, onboarding seven new community-based organizations, representing key voices absent from the first year.
  • Created a step-by-step brochure on how to apply for Unemployment Insurance (UI) and Temporary Disability Insurance (TDI), which community partners translated into other languages and disseminated to their clients.
  • Shared strategies to avoid medical bias in TDI claims.
  • Created a UI help form so that community partners can directly refer their clients to timely one-on-one assistance with their claim from a UI representative.
  • Created flyers advertising DLT services and how to access those services, which were disseminated to the clients of the community partners.
  • Created a survey to gather information about the most-needed employment services and how those services can be accessed. Responses confirmed that employment services offered by DLT are in high demand, and DLT will engage in further research to determine how to advertise those services best and work with existing community partners for seamless delivery to clients.
  • Started the process of cultivating recruitment partnerships between Real Jobs RI training providers and community partners, so that community partner clients have better access to free training opportunities, and training programs have more diverse cohorts.

• Increased the number of bilingual staff available to help unemployment claimants and job seekers. UI hired 14 new bilingual staff across the UI and TDI programs since the award of the U.S. Department of Labor equity grant in 2022. Workforce Development Services partnered with the Rhode Island Department of Administration (DOA) to create a new multilingual career coach position in the DLT career centers. As of September 2024, DLT has hired five bilingual career coaches.
• Provided funding and access to higher education opportunities for teachers of color at the Rhode Island School for Progressive Education.
• Recovered $890,573.41 in back wages and penalties for impacted Rhode Island workers through DLT’s Workplace Fraud Unit in 2023.
• Signed the Pay Equity Act, the Fight for 15, Wage Theft, and the extension of 401 Works into law to ensure fair compensation and raising per capita income across Rhode Island.