From l-r: Marlborough Mayor Arthur Vigeant, Secretary of Labor and Workforce Development Rosalin Acosta, First Student Area General Manager Jessica Quint, Lt. Gov. Karyn Polito, Senator Jamie Eldridge, Representative Carmine Gentile, and MassHire Metro South/West Workforce Board Executive Director Greg Bunn.
Local and state officials joined Lt. Gov. Karyn Polito and Secretary of Labor and Workforce Development Rosalin Acosta, CommCorp staff, MassHire partners and First Student Inc. workers at First Student Inc. in Marlborough on Thursday, Sept. 26 for the announcement of the first-ever round of Senator Kenneth J. Donnelly Workforce Success Grants for FY19 through the Workforce Competitive Trust Fund (WCTF). The event started with CommCorp’s VP of Sector Strategies Theresa Rowland welcoming attendees and expressing, on behalf the WCTF team, their gratitude for the Governor’s Office and the Executive Office of Labor and Workforce Development (EOWLD) in assisting with improving business competitiveness by upskilling of current and future workers, as more than $4 million was awarded in the WCTF grants. The 18 awarded grants, named in memory of Senator Kenneth J. Donnelly, target jobs in healthcare and social assistance (approximately $2.6 million in funding), information technology ($500,000 in funding), and occupations identified in the Commonwealth’s Regional Skills Blueprints. Those occupations include accommodation, food service and hospitality, construction, finance and insurance, and transportation and warehousing.
Attendees took a tour of First Student Inc. and learned how they operate on a day-to-day basis.
“[Senator Donnelly] was the lead Senate sponsor of the Middle Skills Act and consistently fought for WCTF funding,” said Lt. Gov. Karyn Polito. “It’s only fitting for these set of grants to be named after him.” Followed by brief words of gratitude from the Marlborough Mayor Arthur Vigeant, Senator Jamie Eldridge and Representative Carmine Gentile, attendees took a tour of First Student, which transports 5 million students every day across North America, providing full-service transportation and management, special-needs transportation, route optimization and scheduling, maintenance, and charter services for 1,100 school district contracts. Read more on the Executive Office of Labor and Workforce Development website.