News
April 6, 2022National Grid Awards Capital Region BOCES $100,000 Workforce Development Grant
Electricity and gas utility company National Grid is helping to energize the future career endeavors of high school students from across the region.
National Grid is awarding BOCES a $100,000 Workforce Development Grant that will directly benefit dozens of Career and Technical Education students from the Capital Region to the Schoharie Valley.
Specifically, the funds will be used to:
• purchase four heavy equipment simulators to train heavy equipment students to operate backhoes, bulldozers, graders, excavators and dump trucks; and
• cover the cost for approximately 80 heavy equipment program students to earn a variety of industry-recognized professional certifications.
“National Grid and BOCES have a long-standing relationship as the skills BOCES students learn are the skills we look for in new employees every day,” said National Grid Regional Executive Laurie Poltynski.
Poltynski said the Workforce Development Grant is part of the company’s Project C initiative designed to create a “…more equitable energy future in every community we serve. We are confident this award will support that future by providing crucial skills to the next generation of National Grid employees.”
Career and Technical Education Director Jeff Palmer said the work of business partners like National Grid is crucial to the success of students.
“Through the benevolence of National Grid and our business partners, students from a wide variety of backgrounds are able to launch careers directly out of high school or have an advantage when pursuing higher education,” Palmer said. “Thanks to National Grid, dozens of students will be wired for success in whatever their post-high school plans are.”
Capital Region BOCES Career and Technical Schools provide educational opportunities to more than 1,200 high school students from 27 school districts across the region. High school students learn in a variety of programs ranging from electrical trades and game design and implementation to culinary arts, automotive trades and more. Additionally, more than 1,000 adults seek training in skills ranging from health care to welding through BOCES Adult Education programing. A newly constructed Albany-based campus is set to open in September 2022.
