MARLBOROUGH – Executive Director Steven C. Sharek is pleased to announce that several Massachusetts Association of Vocational Administrators (MAVA) member schools received grants as part of the state’s latest round of the Workforce Skills Capital Grants program.
A total of 11 MAVA schools were among those receiving up to $3.3 million as part of the second round of FY22 funding, announced this week by the Baker-Polito Administration.
Since 2015, 407 grants totaling more than $105.5 million have been awarded to 207 different schools and educational institutions across the Commonwealth, with many organizations receiving multiple grants over the years. The state’s investment also helped institutions leverage the grants to gain an additional $25 million in local matching funds.
This funding comes during the month of February, which is recognized nationwide as CTE Month. The month is a chance to celebrate the values and achievements of CTE programs and the work they do.
MAVA schools receiving grants as part of this most recent funding include:
Assabet Valley Regional Technical High School, Marlborough – $249,762 (Metal Fabrication/Welding)
The school will upgrade and expand the program to support adults enrolling in the new Career Technical Initiative program and increase enrollment capacity for high school students. The equipment includes light and heavy gauge sheet metal layout and fabrication as well as structural steel welding using GMAW, GTAW, SMAW, PAC, CNC Plasma and oxy/fuel cutting processes. Students will practice and prepare to take an American Welding Society structural welding certification test, as well as structural sheet metal welding code tests.
Blackstone Valley Vocational Regional School District, Upton – $225,000 (Heating, Ventilation, Air Conditioning & Refrigeration)
The school will purchase air purification systems, boilers, furnaces, building automation workstations, line sets, etc. Students will gain OSHA 10, and EPA Core credentials by graduation.
Essex North Shore Agricultural and Technical School District, Danvers – $150,000 (Health Care)
Students will have the opportunity to earn their Certified Nursing Assistant, First Aid, CPR, Dementia Care, Home Health Aide and OSHA 10 certifications. High school day students will be able to participate in the health assisting program and the addition of a health care option will be offered to adults in the NightHawks Adult Education Program and for after-dark high school students.
Greater Lowell Technical High School, Tyngsborough – $200,000 (Metal Fabrication/Welding)
The school will upgrade its WELD with MIG and Stick, disc sander, horizontal and vertical band saw, plateroll model, live ARC system, rhino carts, beveller, drill press, hand tools, storage, welding tables, pipework dual feeder. The program seeks to offer robust night courses to help fill local industry sector jobs.
Minuteman Regional Vocational Technical High School, Lexington – $150,000 (Robotics and Automation)
The school will expand access to the existing Robotics and Automation program that includes the Internet of Things (IoT), Artificial Intelligence (AI) and Augmented Reality (AR). The new equipment will outfit a modern-day, automated warehouse, which will serve as a learning lab for students in Robotics and Automation, Logistics Automation Engineering/Supply Chain Management for Minuteman, and a training center for partnering college(s), and Minuteman Technical Institute (MTI).
Montachusett Regional Vocational Technical School, Fitchburg – $150,000 (Dental Assistant)
Each workstation will be equipped with downdraft technology, which will aid in ventilation as students study fabrication, impressions, and trim stone modeling. Day and evening students will earn OSHA 10-hour Healthcare and American Red Cross CPR certifications and will be provided the opportunity to earn two Dental Assisting National Board (DANB) certifications – Infection Control and Radiology.
Nashoba Valley Technical High School, Westford – $250,000 (Plumbing/Heating)
The school will modernize equipment including a propress, megapress, and threading machines, an inventory and tool management system, furnaces, hot water tanks, heat pumps, and boilers. Students will graduate with 1,700 hours and Tier 2 Code toward their journeyman license, master plumber’s licenses, and their OSHA 10 construction certifications.
South Shore Regional Vocational Technical High School, Hanover – $100,000 (Culinary Arts)
The school will update the kitchen and student-run restaurant to provide students training and access to industry-standard equipment. Day and evening students will explore and develop skills as entrepreneurs, cooks and hospitality workers. Students will receive ServSafe certification training and OSHA10 for Food Service certification.
Upper Cape Cod Regional Technical School, Bourne – $249,245 (Advanced Manufacturing)
The school will upgrade engineering technology to meet the need for advanced manufacturing. The school will purchase a variety of sophisticated devices used in manufacturing, engineering and construction workplaces. These include a computer numerically controlled (CNC) laser etcher/cutter, CNC Lathe, CNC Milling Machine, surveying tools, robotics equipment, industrial electrical control trainers and advanced laptops that support 3D modeling and other demanding software such as AutoCad, Autodesk inventor, Revit, and LabVIEW.
Westfield Technical Academy, Westfield – $246,306 (Advanced Manufacturing)
The school will purchase 2 Proto TRAK KMX CNC Upgrades, 6 Proto TRAK KMX2 Retrofit Bridgeport Series, 4 Haas Minimills, 2 TouchView Interactive displays and 9 Lathe 2 Axis Digital Readout Systems. Students of the program participate in work-based learning through the school’s cooperative learning at area manufacturing businesses.
Whittier Regional Vocational Technical High School, Haverhill – $181,778 (Marine Service)
The school will create a Marine Service Technology program for both day and evening students. The program will be able to provide this STEM-based educational opportunity to high school students, as well as students who are unemployed, displaced, veterans, or incumbent workers looking to further their careers through our evening school program.
A focus of the more recent grant awards has been the launch and expansion of the Governor’s Career Technical Initiative, which supports vocational-technical schools in expanding their impact by operating programs in the afternoons for local high school students and in the evenings for workers and adult learners.
From June of 2017 through August 2021, Massachusetts Skills Capital Grant Program has awarded $30,694,090 to vocational technical and agricultural schools/programs.
“We are grateful to the Baker-Polito Administration for their continued support of Career Technical Education,” Director Sharek said. “This funding will assist our member schools in a variety of ways through different programs, and will allow our students to gain invaluable hands-on experiences and prepare for important industry certifications.”
To learn more about the Massachusetts Association of Vocational Administrators, click here.
About the Skills Capital Grants program
The Skills Capital Grants are awarded by Governor Baker’s Workforce Skills Cabinet, which was created in 2015 to bring together the Secretariats of Education, Labor and Workforce Development, and Housing and Economic Development to align education, economic development, and workforce policies in order to strategize around how to meet employers’ demand for skilled workers in every region of the Commonwealth.
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